DS 


UC-NRLF 


SB    257 


KINNEAR 


GIFT  ©F 
A .    F .    Morrison 


THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

THE    ACCIDENCE    OF   GRAMMAR    AS 
IT  EXPLAINS  THE  PARTS  OF  SPEECH 


BY  GEORGINA   KINNEAR 


NEW  YORK 
E.    P.    BUTTON    &    CO. 

1904 


GIFT  OP 


BUTTON'S    PRIMERS 
Price  30c.  net  each 

PHILOSOPHY..^  Byt  A;  g.;  SAJPOPORT,  PH.D. 
PHYSIOLOQYv'  By"f£.  bl.' fef AILING,  F.R.S. 
BOTANY.     By  J.  IR'f-A^viER,  fF.J\.a*\ 
THE    USE   0^.  WORDS/  «By  MI<&*K!INNEAR. 

Other   Volumes  will  follow. 


PREFACE 

"  THE  chief  object  in  the  teaching  of  English  as  a 
school  subject  must  be  to  acquire  facility  in  the 
use  of  language  as  an  instrument,  and  a  clear 
apprehension  of  it  as  a  means  of  expressing  lucid 
ideas ;  and,  as  an  aid  towards  these,  some  know- 
ledge of  its  structure  and  its  growth  is  of  great 
importance. " 

It  is  hoped  that  the  present  little  book,  in 
the  hands  of  efficient  teachers,  will  do  some- 
thing to  supply  the  manifest  want  of  an  in- 
troductory manual  on  the  use  of  language,  in 
the  sense  of  the  passage  just  quoted  from  Sir 
Henry  Craik^s  latest  report.  Its  aim  is  to  teach 
grammar,  and  at  the  same  time  to  stimulate  an 
intelligent  appreciation  of  the  final  end  which  is 
served  by  gram  mar- study,  namely,  to  increase  the 
power  of  expression  and  to  insure  a  correct  use 
of  the  English  tongue.  It  is  an  elementary 
book,  and  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  found  to  answer  the 
requirements  of  the  English  and  Scottish  codes. 

Grammar  has  two  chapters,  Accidence  and 
Syntax.  If  the  present  volume  prove  useful,  a 
companion  volume  on  the  Syntax  will  be  added 
to  it. 

GEORGINA  KINNEAR. 

EDINBUEGH,  June,  1904, 

M99175 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

SECTION  I    LESSON  I 

THE  FIRST  EXPLANATIONS  WHICH  ABE  NECESSABY 
IN  OBDEB  TO  UNDEBSTAND  THE  SCIENCE  OF 
GBAMMAB  ........  1 

SECTION  II    LESSON  I 
THE  DIVISION  OF  WOBDS  BY  GBAMMAB  INTO  THBEE 

PBIMABY  CLASSES 6 

SECTION  II    LESSON  II 
A  FUBTHEB  DEFINITION  OF  WOBDS,  CONSIDEBED  AS 

"  PABTS  OF  SPEECH  "  .        .        .  .        9 

SECTION  III    LESSON  I 
GBAMMATICAL  ATTBIBUTES 11 

SECTION  III    LESSON  II 
CASE 14 

SECTION  III    LESSON  III 
THE  INDIBECT  CASES 15 

SECTION  IV    LESSON  I 
A    FULLEB  DEFINITION   OF   THE  NINE  "  PABTS  OF 

SPEECH."    THE  SUBSTANTIVE         ....      19 

SECTION  IV    LESSON  II 
THE   OFFICES   AND   GBAMMATICAL   ATTBIBUTES  OF 

ADJECTIVE  NOUNS 27 

SECTION  IV    LESSON  III 
THE  PBONOUNS  .      32, 


vi  CONTENTS 

SECTION  IV    LESSON  IV 
THE  SUBSTANTIVE  PEONOUN 34 

SECTION  IV    LESSON  V 
THE  ADJECTIVE  PBONOUNS 40 

SECTION  IV    LESSON  VI 
ADVEBBS  AND  ADVEEBIAL  PEONOUNS  .        .  .49 

SECTION  V    LESSON  I 
THE  AETICLE 56 

SECTION  VI    LESSON  I 
THE  VEEB  AND  ITS  ATTBIBUTES 61 

SECTION  VI    LESSON  II 
VOICE,  MOOD,  AND  TENSE 64 

SECTION  VII    LESSON  I 
THE  ACTION  OF  THE  VEEB  IN  MOULDING  SENTENCES      76 

SECTION  VII    LESSON  II 
THE  DIFFEEENT  OBDEES  OF  THE  VEEB       ...      77 

SECTION  VII    LESSON  III 
THE  CONJUGATION  OF  VEBBS, 83 

SECTION  VII    LESSON  IV 
THE  CONJUGATION  OF  VEEBS  (continued)    ...      91 

SECTION  VII    LESSON  V 
TEANSITIVE  VEBBS  IN  THE  PASSIVE  VOICE         .        .      97 

SECTION  VIII    LESSON   I 
PAETICLES .  101 


THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

SECTION  I    LESSON  I 

THE  FIRST  EXPLANATIONS  WHICH  ARE  NECES- 
SARY IN  ORDER  TO  UNDERSTAND  THE 
SCIENCE  OF  GRAMMAR 

1.  CHILDREN  must  often  learn  Grammar  before 
they  understand  what  science  is,  or  what  a  science 
means ;    before,    indeed,    they   can    give   a   clear 
account  of  what  Language  is.    It  would,  therefore, 
be  useless  to  tell  them  that  Grammar  is  one  of 
several  sciences,  which  must  be  studied  in  order 
to  obtain  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Language. 

2.  In  science,  however,  much  may  be  learned, 
without  insisting  on  a  perfectly  clear  explanation 
of  very  difficult  points.     Complete  understanding 
must  come  by  degrees,  and  the  learner  must  be 
satisfied   to  give  a  definition   of  the  Science   of 
Grammar  at  the  end,  not  at  the  beginning,  of  his 
first  lesson. 

8.  Every  child  knows  that  science  means  some 
kind  of  knowledge  ;  Language,  again,  is  a  common 


2  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

thing,  which,  he  beliefs, he  understands  perfectly, 
as ;hev  uses,  it  every  day.-  H£  will  say  without 
hesitation  th^t  it'  enables  people  to  tell  one 
another  what  they  are  thinking  or  doing ;  what 
they  have  seen  or  heard  ;  what  they  fear,  or  seek, 
or  intend  ;  and  what  they  know  to  have  happened. 
Further,  he  will  readily  allow  that  it  is  impossible 
to  see  Language.  It  is  a  thing  invisible — we  only 
hear  it. 

4.  So  far,  then,  it  is  clear  that  if  Grammar  be 
a  science,  it  teaches  some  kind  of  knowledge,  and 
if  it  be  a  science  belonging  to  Language  it  must 
explain   the   nature   and   use   of  some   thing   or 
things,  which  we  find  in  Language :  again,  if  the 
question    be   asked :    "  What    things    belong   to 
Language  ?  "  is  it  possible  that  a  clever  boy  might 
say,  and  say  correctly  :  "  Words  "  ? 

5.  Language  is,  in    fact,    made   up   of  words. 
The  number  of  words  to  be  found  in  it  is  immense. 
Moreover,   words    are    constantly    increasing    in 
number.     Abraham    was   a   very   great   man ;    a 
prince  and  a  ruler,  a  very  old  man,  and,  in  his 
long  life,  he  had  learned  much,  yet  he  did  not 
know  many  words  which  an  ignorant  child  now- 
adays  knows   and   uses.     Many   countries,  trees, 
animals   have   been    discovered   since    Abraham's 
time  ;   many    new  implements  have   been   made ; 
and  whenever  a  man  makes  or  finds  a  new  thing, 


THE   SCIENCE   OF  GRAMMAR        3 

he  gives  it  a  name,  and  the  name  becomes  a  new 
word.  Thus,  words,  for  the  most  part,  are  names 
and  have  meanings. 

6.  Words  have  differences  of  character  as  well 
as  separate  meanings.     For  instance,  house  has  a 
meaning  of  its  own,  quite  different  from  big.     It 
is  used,  moreover,  in  a  different  sense,  because  it 
represents  a  thing  complete  in  itself.      You  see 
a  house  in  your  mind  as  soon  as  you  hear  the 
word.     Bigi  too,  has  a  meaning  of  its  own  :  it  is 
easy  to  understand  and  to  explain  what  big  is, 
but  it  is  not  a  complete  thing.     To  make  it  quite 
real  to  yourself,  or  to  any  one  else,  you  must  join 
it  to  another  word  ;  as   "  a  big  house,"  "  a  big 
tree,"  "  a  big  boy,"  "  a  big  mountain." 

7.  Strikes,  as  a  word,  has  also  a  plain  meaning, 
but  standing  alone,  it  tells  you  nothing,  because 
you  wish  to  know  who  and  what  strikes,  and  who 
and   what    is    struck  ?      "  Lightning   strikes   the 
tree,"  sets  a  picture  before  you.    By  joining  words 
together  you  have  gained  definite  knowledge  of 
a  thing  that  has  happened.     Further,  such  words 
differ  from  each  other,  not  only  in  meaning,  but 
also  in  character.     Strikes,  in  spite  of  its  plain 
meaning,  is  incomplete  in  itself,  but  lightning,  tree 
are  complete ;  nevertheless,  they  tell  you  nothing 
that  is  satisfactory  unless  you  add  to  them  other 
words.     "  Lightning  strikes  the  tree  "  is  an  actual 


4  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

event ;  there  are  change  and  movement  in  the 
fact  that  is  told.  The  combination  of  words  gives 
you  something  interesting  to  think  of. 

8.  In  Grammar,  such  a  combination  of  words 
is  called  a  Sentence.      A  sentence  may   contain 
only  four  words  ;  two  or  three,  indeed,  can  some- 
times  make   its   sense  complete.      "  I   go,"   is  a 
sentence  ;  "  send  him  "  is  another  ;  "  let  me  go," 
"  send  him  back  "  are  complete  sentences  in  three 
words.      But   after   the   sense    is    complete,    the 
power   and    interest    of    the   sentence,    and   the 
amount  of  information   which  it   gives,    are   in- 
creased by  adding   fresh    words.      "  The   forked 
lightning   struck    a    magnificent,    an    old    and   a 
mighty   tree."     The   picture   set   before   you   by 
those  words   fixes  your  attention   more  strongly 
than  the  bare  sentence :  "  The  lightning  struck 
a  tree."     Yet  the  new  words  in  themselves  are  less 
important,    for  forked,  magnificent,  old,  mighty, 
tell  no  intelligible  fact  when  they  stand  alone. 
As  words,  therefore,  they  are  of  less  value  than 
the  four  which  make  a  complete  sentence. 

9.  Again,  the  sense  and   value   of  a  sentence 
depend  greatly  on  the  arrangement  of  its  words — 
that  is,   on  the  order   in  which  they  follow  one 
another :    Magnificent    a    strikes    lightning    old 
forked  tree  the  and  has  really  little  comfortable 
instruction  in  it,  yet  the  words  used  are  precisely 


THE   SCIENCE   OF  GRAMMAR        5 

those   which  gave  a  complete    sense   when    they 
were  differently  arranged. 

10.  This  is  a  long  lesson  and  has,  perhaps,  too 
many  words  in  it.     It  may,  however,  be  summed 
up  in  three  propositions. 

I.  Language  seems  to  be  made  up  of  words. 

The  number  of  words  is  enormous,  and  they  are 
constantly  increasing  in  number,  yet  each  word 
has  its  own  distinct  meaning. 

11.  Words  have  not   only  different  meanings  ; 
they  differ  also  in  the  character  of  the  thing  they 
signify.    Some  represent  a  thing  complete  in  itself : 
many  are  incomplete  and  cannot  be  used  alone  ; 
but  when  they  are  joined  to  a  complete  word,  they 
give  a  clearer  meaning  to  it.     A  combination  of 
words  is  called  a  sentence.     A  single  word  presents 
a  single  image  to  the  mind  ;  a  sentence  is  necessary 
to  express  a  thought. 

III.  Words  in  a  sentence  vary  in  value  ;  some 
are  indispensable  to  its  meaning,  some  are  not ; 
but  the  full  meaning  depends  greatly  on  the  mode 
in  which  its  words  are  disposed,  that  is,  the  order 
in  which  they  follow  each  other. 


SECTION  II    LESSON   I 

THE  DIVISION  OF  WORDS  BY  GRAMMAR  INTO 
THREE   PRIMARY   CLASSES 


1.  IN  the  first  lesson,  it  is  made  plain  that  a 
knowledge    of   Language  means  a  knowledge  of 
words.     The   practice   of  speaking   teaches   that 
Language  is  made  up  of  words.     It  adds  another 
lesson,  that  words  represent  things  that  can  be 
seen,  or  heard,  or  felt.     A  word  sets   a   picture 
before  your  eyes.     It  can  awaken  a  thought   in 
your  mind. 

2.  There  is  more,  however,  in  words  than  images 
of  real  things.     They  may  signify,  not  an  object 
that  can  be  seen  or  touched,  but  movement,  or 
action.     Things  can   be  complete  or  incomplete. 
Two  words  may  differ  in  character,  as  much  as  in 
meaning.     House  is  complete  ;  big  is  not.     Words 
at   once   express   the    meaning,    and   signify   the 
character  of  what  they  represent ;  but  there  are 
fewer  differences  of  significance  (as  the  character 
may  be  called)  than  of  meaning. 


DIVISION   OF  WORDS   BY   GRAMMAR  7 

II 

1.  This    lesson    seems   perhaps    to    repeat   the 
first,  but,  in  order  to  learn  Grammar,  it  is  very 
necessary  to   understand   the    difference   between 
meaning  and  significance,  for  Grammar  pays  no 
regard  to  the  meaning  of  a  word  ;  it  ascertains 
the   significance,  and   by   that   it  judges    of  its 
importance,  and  of  the  place  it  may  hold  in  a 
sentence,  for  it  is  the  work  of  Grammar  to  join 
words  together  so  as  to  make  sense,  and  thus  to 
construct  what,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  may 
be  called  "Speech/1 

2.  The   first    work    of  Grammar   is   to   divide 
words   into   separate   classes,  according   to    their 
significance.     It    takes   the    whole   number,    that 
make  up  a  Language,  and  decides  that  they  may 
be  divided  into  three  classes,  or  orders  : — Nouns, 
Verbs,  and  Particles. 

3.  Nouns  are  names.     Language  gives  a  name 
to  every  thing  which  sight  or  hearing,  or  even 
mere    feeling    discovers    to    us :    such    as    ship, 
thunder,  red,  green,  huge,  sweet,  bitter,  joy,  anger  ; 
yet  those  last  are  only  felt,  not  seen.     Such  words 
as   he,  we,  you,  every,  all,   are   also   names,  and 
therefore  Nouns. 

4.  Verbs  are  the  most  important  words  in  the 
work   that   belongs   to    Grammar,    because    they 


8  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

bring  words  into  relation  with  each  other  and 
thus  make  intelligible  sentences  :  as  "  The  boy 
obeyed  his  father  and  ran  home  quickly."  If 
obeyed  and  ran  be  left  out,  the  sense  is  not  clear. 

5.  Particles  seem  to  have  no  meaning.  They 
are  not  names.  They  do  not,  like  Verbs,  signify 
actions.  They  are,  in  factr  bits  of  words,  but  they 
have  a  certain  grammatical  significance  and  are 
therefore  useful.  They  serve  as  links  to  fasten 
words  together :  as  "  The  book  lies  on  the  table." 
"  On "  has  no  substance,  no  real  meaning,  but 
it  shows  the  position  of  the  book  with  regard  to 
the  table.  Such  particles  as  on  are  indispensable. 
There  are  others  which  might  be  left  out  without 
spoiling  the  sense  of  the  sentence.  Thus,  with  a 
free  use  of  Particles,  the  following  sentence  is 
constructed  :  "  The  boy  has  a  spade  and  an  axe, 
and  a  garden  with  flowers."  But  quite  good  sense 
is  obtained  with  the  Particles  omitted :  "  The  boy 
has  a  spade,  an  axe,  a  garden,  flowers." 


A  DEFINITION   OF  WORDS 


SECTION   II      LESSON   II 

A   FURTHER  DEFINITION  OF  WORDS,  CON- 
SIDERED  AS  "PARTS  OF  SPEECH" 


1.  NOUNS,     Verbs,     Particles,     is     a     primary 
classification,  because .  it  is  the  first  in  time  and 
the    first    also    in    importance,    for   every    other 
division  of  words  must  be  founded  on  it.     It  is 
plainly    accurate    and    includes    every    word   in 
Language.     All  Nouns  are  certainly  names  ;  never- 
theless, a  careful  revision  of  words,  shows  that 
among    Nouns    which   are   one   class,   so   far   as 
naming  is  concerned,  there  are  distinct  differences 
of  significance,  marking  important  differences  in 
character.       Grammarians,     therefore,     make     a 
re-division  of  Nouns  into  five  classes.     Verbs,  they 
regard  as  forming  a  single   class ;    Particles  are 
comparatively  few  in  number.     They  are  divided 
into  three  classes. 

2.  Thus,  the  whole  number  of  words,  in  any 
language,   are   divided   by    Grammar    into    nine 
different  classes,  to  which  grammarians  give  the 
appropriate  name  of  "  Parts  of  Speech." 

3.  (i).    Nouns-Substantive,  (ii).    Nouns- Adjec- 
tive,  (iii)   Pronouns,    (iv)  Adverbs,  and   (v)  the 


10  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

Article    make    up    the   five   separate    classes,    or 
orders  of  Nouns. 

4.  (vi)  Verbs  remain  undivided. 

5.  There  are  three  kinds  of  Particles — (vii)  Pre- 
positions, (viii)  Conjunctions,  (ix)  Interjections. 


SECTION   III       LESSON   I 
GRAMMATICAL  ATTRIBUTES 

1.  WHEN  it  has  been  decided  that  there  are  nine 
"  Parts  of  Speech,"  it  seems  to  follow  naturally 
that  the  explanation  of  the  nine  should  be  given. 
First,  however,  the  students  of  Grammar  must 
learn  the  nature  and  use  of  what  are  called 
"  Grammatical  Attributes." 

#.  The  special  work  of  Grammar  is  to  join 
words  into  sentences  in  order  to  express  ideas. 
Practice  makes  it  so  easy  that  the  careless 
speaker  has  very  little  notion  of  how  it  is  done. 
Certainly,  it  does  not  occur  to  him  that  separate 
words  are  brought  into  relation,  and  so  are  made 
to  help  each  other  by  means  of  these  Attributes. 

3.  There  are  four  grammatical  Attributes 
common  to  all  Parts  of  Speech,  except  Particles  : 
They  are  Gender,  Number,  Person,  and  Case. 
Adjective  Nouns  have  in  addition,  Degrees  of 
Comparison.  Verbs  have  Voice,  Mood,  and 

Tense. 

11 


12  THE    USE   OF  WORDS 

4.  Gender  is  probably  founded  on  the  difference 
between  animate,  that  is  living,  beings,  and  in- 
inanimate  things.     Hence,  it  may  have  been  used 
to    mark    difference    of    sex.       English    steadily 
observes  that  use    of  Gender ;    other   European 
languages  partially,  still  with  sufficient  constancy 
to   prove   its   early   origin.       English   recognises 
three  Genders ; — Masculine,  Feminine,  Neuter. 
It  gives  the  following  rules  for  their  use  : — 

I.  Proper  Names  and  distinctive  appella- 
tions of  men  are  Masculine. 
II.  Proper  Names  and  distinctive  appella- 
tions of  women  are  Feminine. 
III.  Things  without  life  are  Neuter. 

5.  All  languages  retain  more  or  less  the  dis- 
tinction   between     men    and    women ;    but    the 
Romance — that  is,  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  and 
Portuguese,  with  one  or  two  other  dialects  not  so 
well  known — agree  in  having  only  two  Genders ; 
Masculine  and  Feminine.     The  Teutonic  and  the 
Slav  tongues  add  Neuter,  and  use  three  Genders, 
but   distribute    them    impartially   among   living 
creatures  and  things  ;  even  the  distinctive  appella- 
tions of  men  and   women   are   not   too    strictly 
observed.     In  French  and  in  German,  a  sentinel 
is  Feminine.    A  woman  in  German  is  Neuter ;  the 
mistress  of  the  house  is  Feminine,  but  a  young 
lady  is  Neuter  ;  a  child  is  Neuter. 


GRAMMATICAL   ATTRIBUTES         13 

6.  Number     is     naturally    derived     from    the 
practice  of  counting.     It  pays  no  regard  to  the 
actual  number  of  things  in  question  ;  it  recognises 
only  two  distinctions,  one  or  more,  Singular  or 
Plural. 

I.  A  Noun  is  singular  when  it  represents 
an  object,  which,  for  the  moment,  is 
one,  single  and  alone — the  ship ;  a 
mountain. 

II.  Any  number  of  identical  things  is  in- 
cluded in  the  Plural  Number — ships, 
mountains. 

7.  A  third  number,  the  Dual,  is  perhaps  a  relic 
of  a  very  early  stage  of  development  in  language. 
It  hardly  exists  in  European  tongues.     The  Slav 
dialects,  only,  use  it  in  a  few  expressions.     Greek 
recognised   it    more  definitely.      It  includes  two 
identical  things  in  a  single  word. 

8.  Language  exists  for  no  other  apparent  purpose 
than  to  speak,  wisely  or  unwisely ;   and    speech 
presupposes  a  speaker,  a  listener,  and  a  subject : 
these    three    parts    constitute    the    grammatical 
Attribute,    Person.      The   speaker   is   the    First 
Person ;   the  person    addressed,  the  Second ;    the 
thing  spoken  of  is  the   Third. 

9.  Speaking,    or,    to   use    the    technical    term 
Speech,  is  made  up  of  Sentences  ;  Sentences,  of 
Nouns  and  Verbs.     Every  Sentence  must,  at  least, 


14  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

have  one  Verb,  the  duty  of  which  is  to  bring  the 
Nouns  into  relation  with  each  other  and  with  itself. 
A  sentence  may  have  more  than  one  Verb,  but 
each  separate  verb  must  have,  at  least,  one  Noun 
belonging  to  it,  and  each  Noun  must  plainly  be 
in  one  of  the  three  Persons.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  have  all  three,  but  where  there  is  only  the 
Third,  the  First  and  Second  are  always  pre- 
supposed. 


SECTION   III    LESSON   II 
CASE 

1.  OF  the  grammatical  Attributes,  Case  is  the 
most   important.       In   a   sentence,  it    shows  the 
relation  of  each  individual   Noun    to   the  Verb. 
It  marks  also  the  particular  value  of  each  Noun 
in  the  general  sense  of  the  idea  which  the  sentence 
expresses. 

2.  The  Verb,  it  must  be  remembered,  signifies 
the   actual   doing  of  an  action,  or  it  implies  a 
change  of  state. 

The  incidence,  that  is,  the  happening  of  an 
action,  presupposes  an  actor,  or,  more  correctly 
an  agent.  The  action  may  concern  only  itself 
and  the  agent,  or  it  may  fall  on  a  point  in- 
dependent of  both,  which  thus  becomes  the 


THE   INDIRECT   CASES  15 

recipient  or  the  object  of  the  action.  The 
recipient  must  be  brought,  by  the  Verb,  into 
intimate  relation  with  the  agent.  The  agent 
in  the  action,  the  recipient  of  the  action, 
complete  the  full  significance  of  a  Verb ;  by  their 
addition,  a  fact  is  told.  "  Felled  "  has  a  meaning 
certainly,  and  it  has  the  significance  of  an  action, 
but  it  tells  nothing.  "  The  woodman  felled  a 
tree,"  gives  a  sentence,  the  expression  of  a  full 
idea.  The  agent  and  the  object  or  recipient  are 
the  most  important  relations,  in  which  a  Noun 
can  stand  to  a  Verb.  French  grammarians  call 
them  the  direct  complements  of  the  Verb,  as  they 
are  directly  necessary  to  complete  the  action  it 
expresses.  No  phrase  can  be  constructed  without 
those  Cases,  and  a  Noun  cast  in  them  acquires 
a  predominant  value  in  the  sentence.  To  the 
case  representing  the  agent,  the  name  Nominative 
is  given.  The  recipient  is  called  the  Accusative. 


SECTION   III     LESSON   III 
THE  INDIRECT  CASES 

1.  BESIDES  the  Nominative  and  Accusative  there 
are  seven  Cases  which  mark  relation  in  Nouns  to 
the  Verb.  They  are  not  necessary  to  complete  a 
sentence,  and  the  service  they  render  to  the  Verb 


16  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

is  less  obvious  than  that  of  the  Nominative  and 
Accusative.  They  do  not  so  much  complete  its 
significance,  as  define  the  scope  of  its  action  by 
limiting  it  to  a  certain  place,  or  time ;  motive,  or 
cause,  or  instrument ;  or  they  mark  the  origin  of 
the  action,  or  the  point  at  which  it  stops,  when 
that  is  not  included  in  the  Accusative.  Thus, 
"  John  struck  his  brother  "  requires  no  additional 
word  to  mark  where  the  action  ceases  ;  but  "  the 
boy  brought  an  axe  to  his  father  "  states  the  point 
at  which  the  action  stops,  and  so  completes  the 
sense,  though  "  the  boy  brought  an  axe "  is  a 
quite  correct  and  sufficient  sentence. 

2.  Languages  differ  greatly  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  regard  the  cases  that  only  define  the 
Verb.  None  mark  them  all  by  separate  names, 
except  indeed  the  Slav  dialects,  which  give  ten 
cases  to  Masculine  and  Feminine  Nouns.  French 
Grammar  and  the  Romance  tongues  generally 
recognise  only  the  Nominative  and  Accusative 
by  appropriate  titles ;  but  French  teachers  ex- 
plain more  clearly  than  any  other  the  actual 
relation  that  a  word  bears  to  the  Verb  as  it  is 
affected  by  case.  The  Nominative  and  Accusative 
they  call  the  "Direct  Complements,"  and  they 
sum  up  the  defining  cases  as  the  "  Indirect  Com- 
plements "  of  the  Verb.  The  Direct  Complements 
fulfil  the  Verb's  significance  b}^  completing  the 


THE   INDIRECT   CASES  17 

action  it  expresses.  The  other  cases,  the  "  In- 
direct Complements,*"  only  define  the  circumstances, 
called  in  Grammar  accidents  of  time,  p  ace,  etc., 
which  may  accompany  that  completion. 

8.  English  acknowledges  three  cases :  Nomina- 
tive, Accusative,  Possessive ;  the  last  indicates 
origin  as  well  as  possession,  and,  in  other  lan- 
guages, it  is  called  the  Genitive.  The  Romans 
marked  five  cases.  Nominative,  Accusative,  Geni- 
tive, Dative,  Ablative.  The  last,  Ablative,  re- 
presented the  indirect  complements  of  the  Verb, 
except  origin  or  possession,  which  they  called  the 
"  Genitive,"  and  the  point  at  which  action  ceases 
the  "  Dative." 

4.  A  Substantive  may  stand  in  evident  relation 
to  the  sense  of  a  phrase,  yet  be  neither  direct, 
nor  indirect,  complement  of  its  Verb,  but  be 
used  in  addressing  a  person,  or  in  personify- 
ing a  Noun.  It  is  called  the  Vocative  Case ;  it 
lends  to  a  Substantive  the  force  of  an  Interjec- 
tion, which  breaks  the  continuity  of  Discourse. 
"  Oh !  I  have  heard  this  news  already."  "  Sir, 
there  is  a  proclamation  that  you  are  van- 
ished." "No,  I  say  nay  to  that."  "Ha!  do  I 
perceive  ?  "  "  O  Lord,  deliver  us  !  "  "  Alack !  what 
heinous  sin  is  it  in  me  to  be  ashamed  to  be  my 
father's  child?"  "My  son,  be  patient."  The 
examples  are,  of  course,  not  all  Substantives,  but 


18  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

they  serve  the  better  to  show  that  the  Substan- 
tive, if  it  be  used  as  an  exclamation,  is  no  more 
in  evident  relation  to  the  Verb  than  is  the 
Interjection. 

5.  The  point  at  which  action  stops  is  a  Dative 
case,  though  English  grammars  do  not  give  it 
that  name.  Sometimes  it  is  marked  by  a  pre- 
position, sometimes  not ;  in  its  use,  however,  a 
definite  rule  is  observed.  If  the  case  which,  for 
the  sake  of  clearness,  may  in  the  mean  time  be 
called  "  Dative,"  immediately  follow  the  Verb, 
it  requires  no  Preposition ;  if  an  Accusative  Case 
separate  it  from  the  Verb  a  Preposition  must 
mark  it  to  be  what  a  French  teacher  would  call 
an  indirect  case.  "  Philip  gave  his  nephew  a 
gun."  "  Philip  gave  a  gun  to  his  nephew."  "  We 
give  him  good  advice."  "We  give  good  advice 
to  him." 


SECTION   IV    LESSON   I 

A   FULLER  DEFINITION  OF  THE  NINE 
"  PARTS  OF  SPEECH  " 

THE   SUBSTANTIVE 


1.  AN  explanation  of  one  or  two  grammatical 
expressions    may    make    the   following   definition 
clearer.     A  "  Term  "  may  be  a  single  word,  or  it 
may   be    two    or    three    words ;    its    distinctive 
meaning  is  that  it  sums    up  a  single  impression 
on  the  mind.     A  Noun  Substantive  is  a  "  Term," 
it   is   a    word   complete   in    itself,    though   other 
words  may  be  joined  with  it  to  give  a  fuller  sense 
to  the  expression  it  contains.      Yet,   with   such 
words  added,  the  Substantive  retains  its  distinctive 
value,  and  thus  "  the  bee "  or  "  the  pretty  little 
busy  bee"  are  alike  single  terms.     There  is  only 
one  thing — the  bee — to  think  of. 

2.  Several    words,   united   in   relation  to  each 
other  by   a  single  Verb,  are  a  "  Phrase."      The 
combination  may  also   be  called  a  Sentence  ;  so 


19 


20  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

long  as  a  single  Verb  links  all  the  words  together, 
it  is  both  Phrase  and  Sentence.  But  the  Sentence 
has  a  wider  meaning  than  the  Phrase  ;  it  may  be 
prolonged  to  contain  two  or  more  Phrases,  each 
with  its  Verb,  and  with  the  words  which  complete 
its  sense  :  as,  "  Eight  years  afterwards  a  comet 
was  seen,  during  twenty  days,  in  the  western 
quarter  of  the  heavens,  a  fiery  star,  a  meteor  of 
the  air.""  "  The  nations,  who  gazed  with  astonish- 
ment, expected  wars  and  calamities  from  its  baleful 
influence."  The  first  Sentence  is  the  longer  of 
the  two,  but  it  is  moulded  by  a  single  verb,  and 
it  may  be  called  also  a  Phrase.  The  second,  on 
the  contrary,  which  is  composed  of  two  Phrases, 
can  only  be  called  a  Sentence. 

3.  The  change  in  a  Noun,  or  Verb,  which  marks 
the  effect  of  a  grammatical  attribute,  is  expressed 
in  three  ways :  1st,  by  a  change  of  spelling ; 
2nd,  by  the  order  of  the  words  forming  a  Phrase, 
3rd,  by  the  use  of  a  Preposition.  The  first  is 
perhaps  the  most  common  ;  it  can  be  used  to 
mark  any  attribute ;  it  consists  in  contracting 
a  word,  or  in  adding  to  it  a  letter,  or  syllable. 
It  is  called  an  Inflexion :  as,  for  instance,  in 
English,  men  is  the  plural  number  of  man  ;  trees, 
of  tree ;  watches,  of  watch.  The  order  of  the 
words  points  out  Case  in  the  following  Sentences  : 
"John  struck  the  dog."  "The  dog  bit  John." 


THE   SUBSTANTIVE  21 

An  indirect  Case  is  very  generally  marked  by  a 
Preposition,  as,  "John  struck  the  dog  with  a 
whip."  In  Latin,  "  with  a  whip "  would  be 
called  the  Ablative  Case,  and  might  be  marked 
by  an  inflexion  of  the  Noun,  "  whip,"  without  the 
use  of  a  Preposition. 

II 

1.  The  Noun  Substantive  is,  in  respect  to  other 
Nouns,  the  chief  word  in  a  sentence.     Adjective 
Nouns  must  take  their  Gender,  Number,  and  Case 
from  the  Noun-Substantive,  in  order  to  show  that 
they  belong  to  it.     Verbs  take  the  Number  and 
Person  of  a  Substantive  in  the  Nominative  Case. 
The   Substantive  is,  indeed,  the  only  word  com- 
plete in  itself.     Thus  it  gives  a  real  sense  and 
meaning  to  a  sentence.     Adjectives  merely  define, 
that  is,  explain  that  sense  more  clearly  by  limiting 
the  full   force  of  the  Substantive  to  some  par- 
ticular quality,  exceptionally  important   for  the 
moment. 

2.  Substantives   are   divided   into   two   orders, 
Common  and  Proper.     A  Common  Substantive  is 
the  name  of  a  number  of  objects,  either  living 
creatures  or  things,  which  all  possess  the   same 
qualities,  and  thus  belong,  as  it  were,  to  one  class 
of  beings :    as,    boy,    tree,   mountain,   king,   sun ; 
but  the  common  qualities  and  the  common  name 


22  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

do  not  prevent  any  single  individual  of  such  a 
class  from  possessing  qualities  peculiarly  its  own. 
The  tree  must  be  alive  and  grow,  must  be  clothed 
with  leaves,  must  be  subject  to  injury,  may  be 
destroyed,  will  die ;  but  trees  are  by  no  means  all 
alike  ;  a  tree  may  shoot  up  tall  and  thin,  like  the 
poplar ;  or  spread  like  the  beech  ;  or  squat  like 
the  juniper.  It  may  be  green  or  grey,  brown  or 
purple  ;  it  is  still  a  tree.  Of  the  millions  of  trees 
or  boys,  or  mountains,  which  exist,  there  may  be 
hardly  one  the  exact  counterpart  of  another  ;  but 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  any  tree  or 
boy  or  mountain  by  the  name  common  to  it,  with 
the  whole  number  of  its  kin. 

3.  A    Proper   Substantive    does    not    describe 
qualities  or  modes.     It  marks  a  single  individual 
and  so  far  separates  him  or  it  from  the  common 
class  to  which  he  or  it  belongs,  as  if,  indeed,  it 
were  proper  to  him,  or  to  it,  alone :  as,  George, 
London,  Ben,  Nevis.      It  denotes  absolutely  one 
individual. 

4.  According   to   strict   grammatical    rule,    it 
cannot  assume  the  plural  number,  but  it  is  hard 
to   invent   an   infinite   number    of    names,    and, 
besides,  there  is  often  good  reason  why  one  already 
well  known,  should  be  given  anew  to  people  or 
to    places,    and    thus    it    may    happen    to    the 
most  accurate  scholar  to   speak    illogically,  but 


THE   SUBSTANTIVE  23 

not    irrationally    of  the    Georges,    the    Londons. 
Grammar  does  not  subdivide  Proper  Substantives. 

Ill 

1.  Common  Substantives  fall  into  two  classes, 
Concrete  and  Abstract ;  and,  derived  from  these, 
there  are  Verbal  and  Collective  Substantives. 

2.  Concrete  Substantives  denote  objects  which 
sensibly  occupy  space,  and  can  be  seen  or  heard, 
things  which  can  be  touched,  measured,  or  divided. 

3.  An  Abstract  Substantive  expresses  something 
which  exists  only  as  an   image  in  the  mind;  it 
cannot  be  touched,  or  measured,  or  divided ;  it  is 
really  a  mere  mental  impression  :    as,  grief,  joy, 
beauty. 

Substantives,  derived  from  ascribing  concrete 
existence  to  an  accidental  mode,  are  partially,  not 
wholly,  abstract:  as,  length,  from  long;  height, 
from  high ;  strength,  from  strong. 

4.  A  Verbal  Substantive  is  formed  by  transcribing 
the  Infinitive  Mood  of  any  Verb,  and  using  it  as 
a  Substantive,  as,  in  fact,  it    is  :  as,   "  Climbing 
is  dangerous."     "  To  play  is  good,  but  to  work  is 
needful." 

5.  Collective  Substantives  may  be  concrete,  or 
abstract.      They  are  not  a  numerous  order,  and 
the  concrete  are  not  always  parsed  as  collective. 
Such  a  Substantive  presents  a  conception  of  many 


24  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

things,  severally  in  themselves  complete,  but 
regarded  as  uniting  to  form  a  single  existence, 
complete  also  in  itself;  as,  town,  school,  camp. 
A  town  collects  houses,  people,  streets  ;  a  school, 
children,  benches,  etc.  ;  a  camp,  soldiers,  tents, 
etc.  ;  yet,  emptied  of  people,  children,  soldiers, 
and  tents,  the  town,  the  school,  the  camp  remain 
real  and  solid  things,  objects  that  can  be  seen, 
and  may  be  touched  and  measured. 

6.  The  abstract  Collective  Noun  ceases  to  exist, 
when  the  objects  it  collects  are  removed  :  as,  for 
instance,  a  JlocJc,  a  fleet,  a  regiment.  Who  can 
make  a  picture  of  a  flock,  without  its  sheep  ?  of 
a  fleet,  without  ships  ?  Without  soldiers,  the 
regiment  vanishes.  A  Substantive  in  the  Plural 
Number  merely,  is  never  a  Collective  Noun, 
because,  in  itself,  it  suggests  no  separate  idea. 
The  true  Collective  must  collect  objects  which 
are  different  from  itself,  and  are  severally  complete 
Substantives.  It  is  a  curious  speculation,  interest- 
ing in  Grammar,  to  ask,  how  many  objects  must 
be  removed  before  the  Collective  Noun  ceases  to 
be  a  true  Collective.  If  all  but  ten  soldiers  in  a 
regiment  are  killed  in  battle,  would  the  ten  still 
form  the  regiment  ?  If  one  only  survived,  would 
he  be  the  regiment  ?  Grammatically,  it  would  be 
correct  to  say  that  he  is  the  sole  representative  of 
his  regiment. 


THE   SUBSTANTIVE  25 

IV 

1.  In  English   the   grammatical   attributes    of 
Substantives  are  not  always  marked  by  inflexion. 
Inflection,    however,    is  almost  regularly  used  to 
determine   Number ;  but    seldom,    Gender ;    still 
more  seldom,  Case  ;  and  Person  has  no  inflexions. 

2.  To  denote  the  Feminine  of  names  of  office, 
the    Masculine    final    syllable    or    is    sometimes 
changed  to  ess,  or  ix,  as  "  governor,  governess  "  ; 
"executor,  executrix.1"      The  suggestions  of  the 
term  "  Queen  "  may  possibly  lie  in  the  Teutonic 
inflexion  inn  ;  probably  it  intentionally  marks  the 
feminine    in    one    English    word — "fox,    vixen." 
Gender  is  often  marked  by  different  words,  as  ; 
"  boy,  girl  "  ;  "  bull,  cow." 

3.  English   Substantives,  with  few  exceptions, 
mark  Number  by  inflexion.     The  common  form 
is  by  adding  s  to  the  Singular,  in  order  to  change 
it  to  a  Plural  noun  :    as,  "  rose,   roses "  ;    "  cup, 
cups." 

4.  The  rule,  however,  admits  of  exceptions  : — 

I.  If  a  word  end  in  o,  s,  x,  sh,  ch^  or  ss,  it 
affixes  es  instead  of  s :  as,  "  church,  churches." 

II.  Y  after  a  consonant  changes  to  ws  ;  y  after 
a  vowel  takes  s  :  as,  "  lady,  ladies  "  ;  "  boy,  boys." 

III.  F  changes  to  ves ;  double  Jf  takes  s :  as, 
"  loaf,  loaves  "  ;  "  ruff,  ruffs."    If  the  diphthong  oo 


26  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

precede  f,  it  sometimes  takes  s  :  as,  "  roof,  roofs  " 
'but  "  hoof,  hooves  ").  Romance  words  add  only 
s  as  "  brief,  briefs  "  ;  "  coif,  coifs  "  ;  "  gulf,  gulfs." 

IV.  Exceptional  words,  borrowed  without  change 
from   foreign    idioms,    must   retain    their   proper 
Plural  form:  as,  "  stratum,  strata"  ;  "  phenomenon, 
phenomena  "  ;  "  cherub,  cherubim." 

V.  A  few  English  words  retain  an  old  Teutonic 
inflexion,    by   modifying    the    radical    vowel,    as, 
"  man,  men,"  or  by  adding  en,  as  "  ox,  oxen."     One 
word  takes  er,  "  child,  childer."     It  is  found  in 
old  English,  or  in  local  dialects ;  common  usage 
changes    it   to  the    Dative  case,  "  children."     In 
the  case  of  two  words,  the  elder  forms  are  not 
obsolete  ;  "  kine,"  "  swine." 

5.  Neither  Case  nor  Person  is  marked  in 
English  Substantives  by  inflexion,  except  the 
Genitive,  called  in  English,  the  Possessive  Case, 
it  takes  sometimes  V  for  es9  in  Teutonic  inflexion  ; 
sometimes,  it  is  marked  by  a  preposition  :  as, 
"  His  father's  estate,"  or  "  The  estate  of  his 
father." 


ADJECTIVE   NOUNS  27 


SECTION   IV    LESSON   II 

THE  OFFICES  AND  GRAMMATICAL  ATTRIBUTES 
OF  ADJECTIVE  NOUNS 


1.  THE  Adjective  Noun  is,  in  itself,  incomplete  in 
significance.  It  cannot,  like  the  Substantive,  form 
a  complete  Term,  but,  by  defining  the  Substantive, 
it  lends  it  a  distinct  quality  or  mode,  which  limits 
its  somewhat  vague  character. 

£.  Adjectives  have  three  values,  marked  by  the 
position  they  hold  in  relation  to  the  Substantive 
which  they  define :  an  Attributive  value,  a  Pre- 
dicative, a  Conjunctive. 

3.  When,  in    English,  an  Adjective  is  placed 
immediately  before  the  Substantive,  it  is  Attri- 
butive ;   it  merely  adds    an    accidental    mode   or 
quality  to   the   modes  always  recognised  in  the 
Substantive  ;  as,  for  instance,  a  "  man  "  is  a  word 
at  once  understood  as  the  name  of  a  human  being, 
nobody  mistakes  its  meaning,  but  a  man  is  not 
always  good,  nor  brave,  nor  clever,  nor  strong ; 
it   is   thus   that,   with    help    of    an    Attributive 
Adjective,  "  the  strong  man,*"  gives  a  clearer  idea 
than  "  the  man." 

4.  An  Adjective  is  Predicative  when  it  follows 
its  Substantive  and  is  joined  to  it  by  any  tense  of 


28  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

the  verb  "  to  be."  The  words  form  a  single 
term,  but  a  certain  force  is  given  to  the  Adjective  : 
as,  "  The  man  is  strong." 

5.  The  Adjective  receives  a  Conjunctive  value, 
when  it  serves  to  subjoin  a  word  or  phrase,  which 
defines  the  Adjective   itself:    as,  "He  is  a  man 
strong  to  labour  " — i.e.,  not  strong  in  every  way, 
but    he    can   work    hard.       "  He    is    strong    in 
patience  "  ;  again,  the  man  may  be  weak  in  other 
virtues,  but  at  least  his  strength  can  be  trusted  in 
one,  and  the  words  added  explain  "  strong  "  itself, 
not  "  he." 

6.  The  Adjective  Conjunctive  is  not  so  wholly 
one  with  the  Substantive  as  the  Attributive,  or 
Predicative,  and  is  therefore  a  more    important 
word  ;  without  the  Substantive,  however,  it  would 
have  no  real  significance. 

II 

1.  As  Adjectives  become  practically  one  thing 
with   the    Substantive    which   they    define,    they 
must   take   its   grammatical   attributes — Gender, 
Number,  Case,  and  Person. 

2.  It  is  perhaps  a  little  difficult  for  an  English 
learner  of  Grammar  to  perceive  this,  because  no 
change  is  made  in  the  Adjective,  to  show  whether 
it  be  masculine  or  feminine,  singular  or  plural, 
nominative   or   accusative,    but   if  he  remember 


ADJECTIVE   NOUNS  29 

how  completely  a  Substantive  and  an  Adjective 
become  one  thing,  one  term,  one  image  in  the 
mind,  he  will  understand  why  it  must  be  so. 
In  French,  and  in  most  other  languages,  it  is  easy 
to  see  the  fact,  because  an  inflexion  is  given  to 
the  Adjective  to  mark  that  it  has  become 
Feminine  or  Plural,  or  has  taken  a  different  Case 
from  the  Nominative,  in  order  to  be  in  complete 
agreement  with  the  Substantive  to  which  it 
belongs.  English  too,  in  old  times,  had  such 
inflexions  to  point  out  close  agreement,  but,  as 
regards  Adjectives,  they  have  been  dropped. 

3.  The   Adjective,  however,  is  not  merely  and 
solely   a    useful   adjunct   to   the   Substantive,    it 
exercises  an  office  proper  to  itself,  an  important, 
as  well  as  a  special  office,  which  gives  it  a  distinct 
value  in  relation  to  other  Nouns.     It  determines 
points  of  comparison.     "  The  strong  man  "  means 
strong,  as  compared  with  ordinary  men.     Hence 
the    Adjective    has    a    grammatical     Attribute, 
peculiar   to    itself.      This  Attribute  of  the  Ad- 
jective is  called  its  "  Degrees  of  Comparison.*" 

4.  Adjectives  express  three  Degrees    of  Com- 
parison :      Positive,      Comparative,      Superlative. 
These  are  frequently  marked  by  inflexion,  and  for 
the    Comparative    add    to    the    Positive    er ;    est 
for  the    Superlative.     Instead   of    the  inflexions, 
a   defining    word   is    sometimes    prefixed    to    the 


30  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

Adjective :  more,  the  Comparative ;  most,  the 
Superlative ;  or  less,  least :  as,  swift,  swifter, 
swiftest ;  alert,  more  alert,  most  alert ;  idle,  less 
idle,  least  idle. 

5.  The  Positive  Degree  determines  a  comparison 
in  relation  to  individual  Substantives.     It  gives 
to   a  particular  Substantive  a  real  and  positive 
quality   which    marks   a   difference   between    the 
Noun  in  question,  and  other  creatures,  or  things, 
for  it  may  be  an  animate  or  an  inanimate  object, 
and  can  take  the  Singular  or  Plural  Number ;  as 
"  the  savage  dog,"  "  the  cruel  sea,"  "  green  hills." 

6.  The  Comparative  Degree  makes  a  comparison, 
by   ascribing   to    one   Substantive    a    distinctive 
degree   of  a   quality   which   is   common    to   two 
Substantives ;  and  these  may  be  either  the  same 
in  meaning,  or  different :  as,  "  The  wolf  is  more 
savage  than  the  bear."     "  This  dog  is  more  savage 
than  that."     u  John  is  a  cleverer  boy  than  James." 
The   comparison    must   always   lie   between    two 
Nouns,    but   the   Nouns    may   be   in   the   Plural 
Number:  as,  "Wolves  are  more  savage  than  bears." 

7.  The  comparison  of  the  Superlative  Degree 
separates   a    particular    Substantive   from    other 
Substantives  of  its  own  class,  by  ascribing  to  it 
a  quality  in  its  highest  or  lowest  degree,  a  degree 
so  strongly  marked  as  to  set  the  Noun  in  question 
apart :   as,  "  Snowdon   is  the  highest  (mountain) 


ADJECTIVE   NOUNS  81 

of  Welsh  mountains.*"  "Wasps  are  the  most 
mischievous  (insects)  of  winged  insects."  The 
Superlative  may  be  quite  correctly  used  to  give 
merely  an  intensive  sense  in  an  incomplete  com- 
parison :  as,  "  This  is  a  most  beautiful  azalea." 
"The  azalea  is  a  most  beautiful  flower."  How- 
ever slightly  the  comparison  be  marked  in  such 
phrases,  it  is  real. 

8.  The  intensified,  or  the  weakened,  mode  does 
not  necessarily  mark  a  very  high,  or  a  very  low 
degree.      The    Positive  is,   in  fact,  as    it   is    in- 
variable, the  strongest  of  the  three  comparisons. 
Its  value  is  certain  and  absolute.     The  values  of 
the  Comparative  and  Superlative  are  variable  and 
relative.      There  is  no  question  of  the   courage 
of  "  a  brave  soldier " ;  but  "  the  bravest  soldier 
of  that  troop"  may  be  a  coward. 

9.  Some  qualities,  or  modes  cannot  be  intensified, 
and  thus,  some  Adjectives  cannot  be  remodelled 
by  Degrees  of  Comparison. 

I.  Such  as  express  by  the  Positive  a  supreme 

significance  :  as,  "  chief." 
II.  Such    as   define   a   Substantive   by   de- 
scribing the  thing  of  which  it  is  made, 
that   is,   its    material   substance:    as, 
"  wooden." 

III.  Such  as  are  derived  from  Proper  names : 
as,  "  French,"  "  English." 


32  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

10.  There  are  two  Adjectives  which  have  no 
Positive  Degree,  only  a  Comparative  and  Super- 
lative :  "former,  first11;  "latter,  last"  (though 
"  late "  in  Grammar,  not  in  the  meaning  of 
ordinary  Speech,  is  the  real  Positive  Degree  of 
"later." 


SECTION   IV    LESSON   III 
THE  PRONOUNS 


1.  PRONOUNS  are  words  which  have  no  distinct 
meaning  of  their  own.     They  do  not  describe  ; 
their  office  is  to  supply  the   place   of  true   de- 
scriptive  Nouns,  and  thus  prevent  the  too   fre- 
quent repetition  of  the  same  word. 

2.  The  Pronoun,  as  it  has  no  real  meaning,  is 
not  the  symbol  of  a  real  thing  that  exists.     The 
Substantive  is ;  and  the  Adjective,  in  like  manner, 
is  the  symbol  of  a  quality  or  mode.    The  Pronoun, 
on  the   contrary,  does   not,  of  itself,  recall    the 
image  of  any  creature  or  thing ;  nevertheless,  it  is 
not  a  Particle,  but  a  true  Noun. 

3.  The  Pronoun  possesses  all  the  grammatical 
attributes — Gender,  Number,  Person,  and  Case — 


THE  PRONOUNS  33 

and   these   give   it   a   certain  substance,  such  as 
Particles  cannot  have. 

4.  Farther  by  assuming  the  Gender,  Number, 
and  Person  of  the  Noun,  which  it  represents,  a 
Pronoun    is  identified  with  such  Substantive,  or 
Adjective,  and  cannot  be  separated,  in  idea,  from 
it,  so  long  as  the  relations  last  between  the  real 
Noun  and  its  substitute. 

5.  As  regards  the  attribute,  Case,  the  Pronoun 
is  independent.      It  takes  that   Case,  which    its 
evident  relation  to  a  Verb  demands. 

6.  Pronouns  differ  from  other  Nouns  in  three 
particulars. 

I.  They  are  signs,  not  true  symbols. 
II.  They  cannot,  from  age  to  age,  be  multi- 
plied in  number,  as  descriptive  words 
can  be  and  are.  They  remain  re- 
stricted to  a  definite  list  of  Nouns, 
that  is  to  say,  Names,  the  sense  of 
which  is  determined  by  their  gram- 
matical attributes,  as  it  is  from 
these  they  borrow  a  visionary  sub- 
stance. 

III.  Pronouns,  when  they  are  also  Substan- 
tives, retain  modes  of  inflexion,  with 
a  persistence  which,  particularly  in  the 
English  language,  is  not  found  in 
other  Nouns. 


34  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

II 

1.  The  primary  function  of  Pronouns  is  to 
represent — that  is,  to  stand  for  other  Nouns.  It 
is  imperative,  therefore,  that  they  have  distinctive 
characters.  They  form  three  classes,  adapted 
severally  to  hold  the  place  of  the  three  orders  of 
pure  names  or  nouns.  Thus  there  are  necessarily, 
Substantive  Pronouns,  Adjective  Pronouns,  and 
Adverbial  Pronouns,  and  those  three  distinct 
classes  must  be  considered  separately. 

SECTION   IV    LESSON   IV 
THE    SUBSTANTIVE    PRONOUN 

I 

1.  SUBSTANTIVE  PRONOUNS  represent  Nouns  Sub- 
stantive which  have  been  actually  used  in  speak- 
ing or  writing,  and  in  order  to  identify  themselves 
with  the  word  for  which  they  stand,  the  Pronouns 
take  its  Gender,  Number,  and  Person  :  as,  "  Star- 
lings fear  the  merlin,  though  he  is  little  bigger 
than  they  ;  you  must  have  seen  them  fly  from  him." 

2.  The  Pronoun,  however,  marks  Case  by  the 
relation   which  it  holds  to  the  Verb  of  its  own 
phrase,  and  even  when  Substantive  and  Pronoun 
occur  in  the  same  sentence,  the   Pronoun   is  in 
regard   to   Case,  independent,  and   may,  indeed, 


THE   SUBSTANTIVE   PRONOUN       35 

stand  as  complement  to  a  different  Verb.     "  The 
starling  is  a  bold  bird,  yet  the  merlin  scares  him." 

3.  There  are   two  classes   of  Substantive  Pro- 
nouns— Personal  Pronouns  and  Relative  Pronouns. 
A    Personal    Pronoun    directly    replaces    a   Sub- 
stantive— as,  "  The  river  Tarim  formerly  flowed 
due  east,  now  it  runs  south,  and  often  it  overflows 
its  banks.""      "  My  guide  and  I  were  enveloped 
in  clouds  of  gnats  and  gadflies  ;  we  were  forced 
to  put  up  a  tent  on  the  deck  ;  we  hoped  it  might 
protect  us."     The  Personal  Pronoun  has  the  same 
value  in  the  construction  of  the  Sentence  as  its 
Substantive  would  have,  and  it  makes  the  sense 
clearer   by  preventing  a  confusing   repetition  of 
the    same    words :  as,    "  My   guide   and   I    were 
enveloped  in   clouds  of  gnats  and   gadflies ;    my 
guide  and  I  were  forced  to  put  up  a  tent  on  the 
deck  ;    my   guide   and  I   hoped   the   tent  might 
protect  my  guide  and  me."     It  would  be  a  still 
worse  sentence  if  proper  names  were  substituted 
for  "  my  guide  and  I." 

4.  Personal   Pronouns   mark   the   grammatical 
attribute    Person    by    different    words.      Gender 
is  not  marked,  except  in  the  third  person  singular, 
and  then  by  different  words.     Number  is  marked 
in  English,  and  generally  in  Teutonic  languages, 
by  different  words ;  in  the  Romance  tongues  in 
the  third  person,  by  inflexion. 


36  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

THE  PERSONAL  PRONOUNS 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  1st.     I.  We. 

„      2nd.     Thou.  You. 

„      3rd.     He,  She,  It  (marks  Gender).        They. 

5.  Case  is  marked  in  the  Accusative  by  an 
inflexion,  and  frequently  in  the  Genitive.  In  the 
other  indirect  complements  of  the  verb,  a  pre- 
position, very  generally,  is  prefixed  to  the  noun  : 
sometimes  it  is  omitted  in  the  Dative.  The 
preposition  is  prefixed  always  to  the  Ablative. 

THE   PERSONAL  PRONOUNS 

SINGULAR 

1st  Person  2nd  Person 

Case  Norn.     I.  Thou. 

„    Accus.  Me.  Thee. 

„    Gen.      Mine,  of  me.  Of  thee  or  thine. 

„    Dat.       To  me,  or  me.  Thee,  to  thee. 
„    Ablat.    By,  with,  etc.,  me.         By,  with,  etc.,  thee. 

„    Voc.      Ah  me  !  Thou  ! 

3rd  Person  Masculine  Feminine  Neuter 

Case  Nom.     He.  She.  It. 

„    Accus.  Him.  Her.  It. 

„    Gen.      His,  of  him.  Hers,  of  her.  Its,  of  it. 

,,    Dat.       To  him,  him.  To  her,  her.  It,  to  it. 


Ablat.{    ^  By,  etc.,  her.       By,  etc.,  it. 

Voc.       He,  or  him.          She,  or  her.          It. 


THE   PERSONAL  PRONOUNS 


37 


PLURAL 
1st  Person 


Case  Nom.     We. 

„    Accus.  Us. 
„    Gen.      Ours,  of  us. 
„    Dat. 
„    Ablat. 
Voc. 


Us,  to  us. 

By,  with,  etc.,  us. 

We,  or  us. 


2nd  Person 
You,  or  ye. 
You,  or  ye. 
Yours  ;  of  you,  ye. 
You,  ye  ;  to  you,  ye. 
By,  etc.,  you,  ye. 
Ah  you,  ye. 


3rd  Person. 
Case  Norn.     They 
Accus.  Them. 
Gen.      Theirs,  of  them. 
Dat.       Them,  to  them. 
Ablat.    By,  etc.,  them. 
Voc.      They,  them. 

6.  As  in  the  Noun  Substantive,  so  in  the  Sub- 
stantive Pronoun,  Personal,  the  preposition  may 
be  omitted  before  a  pronoun  in  the  Dative  Case 
if  it  immediately  follows  the  verb ;  but  if  the 
sense  or  the  harmony  of  the  phrase  seem  to 
require  the  preposition  it  may  be  retained — as, 
"  He  gave  us  an  unexpected  reward."  "  He  proposed 
to  us  an  unexpected  reward."  The  preposition 
must  be  retained  when  the  Dative  is  separated 
from  the  verb  :  as,  "  He  gave  a  reward  to  us." 

II 

1.  The  Relative  Pronoun  is  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  the  Personal,  in  so  far  as  it  represents 


38  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

a  true  Substantive  and  prevents  the  repetition  of 
the  same  word ;  but  it  does  not  actually  replace 
the  Substantive,  and  could  not  be  exchanged  for 
it  without  sometimes  confusing  the  sense  of  the 
sentence,  and  still  more  often  its  harmony.  It 
stands  rather  in  the  place  of  a  conjunction  and 
a  personal  pronoun  :  as,  "There  passes  the  general, 
who  has  gained  many  battles,"  might  be  correctly 
rendered,  "  There  passes  the  general,  and  he 
has  gained  many  battles."" 

2.  In  English  the  Relative  Pronoun  marks 
Gender  by  two  distinct  terms  :  "  who  "  for  Mascu- 
line and  Feminine,  "which"  for  Neuter  Nouns. 
Neither  Number  nor  Person  are  marked.  "  Who  " 
distinguishes  two  Cases  by  inflexions :  the  Ac- 
cusative "  whom "  ;  the  Possessive,  which  is  the 
Genitive  "  whose."  "  Which  "  remains  unchanged, 
and  the  indirect  cases  are  marked  by  prepositions  : 
as,  "  The  haste  with  which  he  came."  "  The  books 
in  the  subject  of  which  he  is  interested."  In 
both  pronouns  the  dative  case  is  always  marked 
by  a  preposition.  It  is  not,  like  the  Personal 
Pronoun,  affected  by  its  position  in  regard  to  the 
Verb :  as,  u  He  praised  the  boy,  and  gave  him  a 
book."  If  the  Relative  Pronoun  be  used  the 
sentence  must  be,  "  He  praised  the  boy,  to  whom 
he  gave  a  book." 

3.  In  asking  a  question,  "  which  "  may  be  used 


THE   RELATIVE   PRONOUNS          39 

in  agreement  with  a  Masculine  or  Feminine  Sub- 
stantive. It  is,  however,  an  Adjective,  not  a 
Substantive  Pronoun  :  as,  "  Of  which  king  did  he 
speak  ?  v  "  Which,"  in  such  a  phrase,  is  strictly 
in  agreement  with  "  king " ;  it  does  not  replace 
nor  stand  for  the  word,  but  is  used  as  an  Ad- 
jective Interrogative  Pronoun. 

THE  RELATIVE   PRONOUNS   "WHO,   WHICH" 

Masculine  or  Feminine  Neuter 

CfiseNom.    Who.  Which. 

„    Accus.  Whom.  Which. 

,,    Gen.     Whose,  of  whom.  Of  which. 

„    Dat.     To  whom.  To  which. 

,,    Ablat.  By,  with,  from  whom.  By,  with,  from  which. 

Ill 

1.  In  addition  to  the  Relative  Pronoun  proper, 
English  borrows  another  term  from  the  Demon- 
strative  Adjective   Pronouns,  "that."     When  it 
is   so   used,    it   has   the  value  of  a   Substantive 
Pronoun.     It  marks  no  grammatical  attribute  by 
inflexion :  as,  "  Sir,  I  am  a  poor  friend  of  yours 
that  loves  you."     "  The  friends  that  were  faithful 
in  misfortune." 

2.  The  term  "  what "  must   be   included  as  a 
Relative  in  the  class  of  Relative  Pronouns.     It 
stands    for   two   words,  either  "  that   which,"  or 
"  it  which,"  or  it  can  be  used  to  ask  a  question, 


40  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

or  mark  an  exclamation  :  as,  "  What !  must  he 
die  ?  "  "  What  great  services  has  he  rendered  ?  " 

It  may  stand  for  two  Pronouns,  the  comple- 
ments of  two  Verbs  :  or  for  two  Pronouns,  the 
complements  of  one  Verb,  but  in  separate  Cases  : 
as, 

f '  What  seemed  his  head 
The  likeness  of  a  kingly  crown  had  on." 

ff  With  joy  beyond  what  victory  bestows." 

In  this  last  sentence,  "  what "  at  once  represents 
beyond  ihat^  an  Ablative  Case,  indirect  comple- 
ment to  the  verb  "  bestows,1'  and  an  Accusative 
which  the  direct  complement  of  "bestows." 

In  the  first  sentence  "  what "  contains  two 
direct  complements  of  two  separate  verbs  :  "  that " 
Nominative  Case  to  "  seemed  "  :  "  which  "  Nomina- 
tive to  "had  on." 


SECTION   IV     LESSON  V 

THE  ADJECTIVE   PRONOUNS 

I 

1.  ADJECTIVE  PRONOUNS  differ  in  origin  and  in 
kind  from  the  Substantive  Pronoun,  yet  they 
are  true  Pronouns ;  signs,  not  symbols.  They 
prevent  the  too  frequent  repetition  of  the  same 


THE  ADJECTIVE   PRONOUNS         41 

word,  and  thus  secure  precision  and  harmony  in 
speaking  or  writing. 

2.  As  Adjectives  they  do  not  define   a   Sub- 
stantive by  expressing  a  quality  of  the  substance 
of  the  word,  that  is,  they  do  not  describe  its  real 
nature,  but  they  ascribe  to  it  an  accidental  mode 
of  time,  place,  or  number. 

3.  Adjective  Pronouns  are  subordinated  to  the 
Substantive  which   they  define,  and  mftst   agree 
with  it  in    the   grammatical   attributes,   Gender, 
Number,    and   Person.       In    Case    an    Adjective 
Pronoun  agrees  with  the  Substantive  to  which  it 
is   prefixed,  not   necessarily   with  that  which   it 
represents.      "  From  this  point  you  command  a 
fine  view  ;  that,  from  the  top  of  the  hill  is  mag- 
nificent."    "  View  "  in  the  first  phrase  is  accusative, 
a  direct  complement  of  the  verb  "  command "  ; 
"  that "  in  the  second  phrase  represents  "  view,"  but 
is  nominative  to  "  is  " ;  it  agrees,  in  fact,  with  a 
second  "  view  "  which  is  not  expressed.     Person  in 
the  case  of  one  Adjective  Pronoun  is  marked  by 
different  words.       Number  is  sometimes  marked 
by  an  inflexion,  Gender  is  not ;  but  the  Possessive 
Adjective  Pronouns,  as  they  are  derived  from  the 
Personal   Pronoun   Substantive,  mark  Gender  in 
the  third  person  singular. 

4.  The  Adjective  Pronouns  form  five  distinct 
classes  of  Pronouns,  differing  in  origin  and  use. 


42  THE  USE   OF  WORDS 

These  are  the  Possessive,  Demonstrative,  Distri- 
butive, Numeral,  and  Indefinite  Pronouns. 

II 

1.  The  Possessive  Adjective  Pronoun  defines  a 
Substantive,  ascribing  to  it  a  certain  relation  of 
dependence  on  a  Noun  which  may  be  expressed 
in    the  context,  or  implied  in  the  sense  of  the 
Adjective1  Pronoun  itself:  as,  "There  is  no  doubt 
that  it  is  justly  his  estate."     "  It  is  your  book, 
but  you  have  borrowed  my  ideas." 

2.  The  Possessive  Adjective  Pronoun  is  derived 
from  the  Genitive  Case  of  the  Personal  Pronoun. 
It    includes    eight   Nouns.      My,   thy,    his,   her, 
its,  are   singular,  in    so    far  as  they  represent  a 
Substantive  which  is   in    the   Singular   Number, 
as   in   like   manner  our,  your,  their  are   plural ; 
but  for  the  moment  they  must  agree  with  the 
Substantive  to  which  they  belong.     The  Romance 
languages  show  the  agreement  by  an  inflexion ; 
English  has  no  inflexion. 

Ill 

1.  Demonstrative  Adjective  Pronouns  define 
Substantives  by  a  note  of  time  or  place,  and  they 
determine  a  point  of  comparison  with  regard  to 
nearness  or  distance.  Two  words  make  up  the 
list  of  Demonstrative  Pronouns :  this,  that. 


THE   ADJECTIVE   PRONOUNS         43 

This  describes  an  object  as  near  to  the  speaker 
in  time  or  place  ;  that,  as  comparatively  distant. 

2.  The  Demonstrative  must  agree,  as  all  other 
Adjectives  must,  with  the  Substantive  which  it 
defines,    but    only    one    grammatical    attribute, 
Number,  is  marked  by  an  inflexion. 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

This,  That.  These,  Those. 

3.  When  this,  that,  are  used  to  place  the  same 
two     identical    objects    in    contrast,    it    is    not 
necessary  to  repeat  the  Noun  twice  :    as,   "  This 
picture  is  certainly  finer  than  that."    "  That  book 
is  his,  this  is  mine." 

IV 

1.  Distributive   Adjective    Pronouns    separate 
from  one  another  the  indefinite  number  of  units 
contained  in  a  Substantive  Plural,  or  in  a  Collec- 
tive  Substantive,    whether    Singular    or    Plural. 

2.  The  Distributive  Pronouns  are  each,  every, 
none,   neither,   either.      Each,   every  have    some- 
times   the    same    sense :    as,    "  Every    boy    will 
receive  a  prize,"  or,  "  A  prize  will  be  given  to 
each   boy  in  the  class."     They  equally  divide  a 
whole  number  into  single  units.    Every  sometimes 
seems  to  be  used  collectively  :   as,  "  Every  soldier 
must   be   brave."     Yet   it   still  implies  "  brave " 


44  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

separately.  Each  is  sometimes  used  in  separate 
units.  "  Each  of  those  books  has  a  certain  merit 
of  its  own  "  implies  that  two  are  compared. 

8.  Either,  neither,  always  compare  two  units, 
by  separating  them.  "  Either  plan  is  fair,  neither 
is  good  ;  both  may  fulfil  the  end  in  view."" 

4.  None  is,  in  sense,  no  one ;  it  is  sometimes 
parsed,    but   incorrectly,   as   a    Substantive.      It 
ascribes  a  certain  quality  or  mode  of  not  being  to 
a  Substantive,  and  so  far,  is  properly  an  Adjective. 
It,  so  far,  also  represents  the  Substantive,  of  which 
it  prevents  the  repetition,  and  thus  it  justly  takes 
its  place  among  Pronouns  ;  but  it  is  an  irregular, 
rather  than  a  Distributive  Pronoun. 

5.  The    Substantive    Pronouns,    which,    what, 
are  used  sometimes  to  separate   one   unit   from 
several,  but  only  in  an  interrogative  sense.     For 
the    moment,    however,    they    are    Distributive 
Pronouns  :    as,  "  Which  boy  gained  the   prize  ?  " 
"  Which  of  the  squadrons  fled  ?  "  "  What  verdict 
was  pronounced  ?  " 

V 

1.  The   Numeral   Adjective   Pronouns   include 
two  large  classes,  which  differ  rather  in  use  than 
in   character,   the    Cardinal    Numbers    and    the 
Ordinal  Numbers. 

2.  Both    are    true    Pronouns,   mere    signs   of 


THE   ADJECTIVE   PRONOUNS         45 

Number,  not  symbols  of  the  nature  nor  of  the 
character  of  the  Substantive  they  define.  They 
describe  a  formal,  not  a  real,  nor  a  constant 
quality  :  as,  "  the  old  oak  tree."  "  Old,"  is  a 
real  quality,  it  constantly  remains  with  the  tree. 
"  This  tree  is  seventy  years  old."  "  Seventy  "  de- 
fines "years  "  not  "  this  tree,"  but  the  predicative 
Adjective  "  old "  brings  the  Ablative  Case 
"  seventy  years  "  into  relation  with  "  this  tree  is." 
The  whole  phrase  would  be  "  This  tree  is,  by 
seventy  years,  old."  "  There  are  many  beeches  in 
the  avenue,  and  ten  fine  old  oak  trees."  The 
"  fine  "  and  "  old  "  are  real  characteristics  of  the 
trees  ;  "  ten  "  is  a  mere  formal  mode,  any  accident 
might  change  it,  it  does  not  affect  the  tree  itself. 

3.  As   Pronouns,  both    Cardinal   and    Ordinal 
Numbers  give  conciseness  to  a  sentence  and  avoid 
repetition.     Without  them,  the  sense  which  they 
serve  to  convey  would  be  lost  in  a  multiplication 
of    words.      Three    trees,    necessarily,    must    be 
expressed,  "  a  tree,  and  a  tree,  and  a  tree." 

4.  The  Ordinal   Numbers   are   equally   useful. 
"  After  the   seventh   year  of  fine   harvests,  then 
will   come   seven    barren    years."     "  Seventh,"  as 
well   as    "seven,"    must,  but  for   the   Pronouns, 
be   expressed   by   seven  repetitions  of  the  word 
"year." 

5.  The  Cardinal  Numbers  have  been  sometimes 


46  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

regarded  as  Substantives,  but  without  reason. 
The  Numbers,  as  words,  do  not  contain  ideas  in 
themselves  complete.  The  Verb  of  any  phrase 
strictly  subordinates  them,  as  defining  words,  to  a 
Substantive,  of  which  they  assume  the  gramma- 
tical attributes.  Like  Descriptive  Adjectives,  they 
can  have  an  attributive,  or  a  predicative  value ; 
in  the  latter  case,  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat 
the  Substantive  with  which  they  agree  :  as,  "  The 
books  that  treat  of  this  very  important  subject 
are  three." 

6.  Substantives    may    be    formed    from   some 
Cardinal  Numeral  Adjectives,  but  they  must  be 
technical  expressions,  and  by  an  exclusive  usej  in 
a   certain    sense,    they    must    acquire   a   certain 
complete  significance  :  as,  a  tithe,  a  tenth  part ; 
familiarly   used   to   signify   a   tax.     A   dozen   is 
frequently  a  Noun  Substantive  ;  a  score,  always. 
A  millionaire  is  properly  a  French  word,  but  it  is 
used  in  English,  for  a  man  who  possesses  the  sum 
of  a  million  or  of  several  millions  in  any  national 
value  of  money — francs,  pounds,  dollars,  etc. 

7.  Cardinal  Numbers  express  an  exact  sum  of 
repetitions  of  any  existing  thing,   which  a  Sub- 
stantive in  its  character  of  symbol  can  represent. 
"  In  this  town  there  are  four  churches,  two  are 
magnificent,     two     very    old     and    interesting." 
"  Four "  prevents  the  repetition  of  the  Substan- 


THE   ADJECTIVE   PRONOUNS         47 

tive  and  defines  it.  "  Two,"  more  directly  repre- 
sents, and,  at  the  same  time,  defines  churches  ; 
both  Adjectives  prevent  needless  and  confusing 
repetition  and  may  justly  be  considered  Pronouns. 
8.  Ordinal  Numbers  fix  the  relation,  as  regards 
time  or  place,  which  one  unit  bears  to  others, 
when  they  and  it  are  actually  the  same  in  fact, 
and  can  be  expressed  collectively  by  a  Substantive : 
as,  "  The  night  passed  slowly,  it  was  already  the 
fifth  hour,  when  the  alarm  was  given."  "'Your 
friend  lives  in  the  sixth  house  from  the  corner  of 
the  street."  In  these  sentences  "  fifth "  and 
"sixth"  define  and  prevent  repetition  as  evidently 
as  the  Cardinal  Numbers ;  they  also  mark  a 
certain  relation  of  time  in  the  "fifth,"  to  the  other 
hours  of  the  night ;  of  place  in  the  "  sixth,"  to  the 
other  houses  of  the  street.  The  sentence  might 
be  differently  formed,  and  would  mark  the  character 
of  the  Ordinal  Number,  as  at  once,  an  Adjective, 
and  a  Pronoun  even  more  evidently.  "  The  hours 
of  the  night  passed  slowly  ;  it  was  already  the  fifth 
when  the  alarm  was  given."  "  There  are  thirty 
houses  in  this  street,  and  your  friend  lives  in  the 
sixth  from  the  corner." 

VI 

The    Indefinite    Adjective    Pronouns     include 
all  words  which  express  number  or  measure,  but 


48  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

do  not  define  with  precision.  They  are  words 
in  constant  use :  as,  many,  any  much,  little,  all, 
some,  few,  other,  such,  same,  etc.  Little  is  an 
ambiguous  word ;  it  can  be  used  as  a  des- 
criptive Adjective :  as,  "  A  little  house,"  when 
it  means  small ;  yet  it  does  service  also  as  an 
Adjective  Pronoun,  and  marks  an  indefinite 
quantity  :  as,  "  Little  hope  is  left "  ;  "  There  is 
little  corn  in  the  barn  "  ;  "  Little  rain  has  fallen." 
"  Little,"  in  those  examples,  does  not  express  a 
real  quality  in  the  Substantive  which  it  defines, 
but  an  accidental,  indefinite  quantity.  It  is 
declined  irregularly  by  the  degrees  of  comparison : 
The  Positive  is  little ;  the  Comparative,  less ;  the 
Superlative,  least.  Much  is  also  declined.  Posi- 
tive, much  ;  Comparative,  more  ;  Superlative,  most. 

VII 

1.  Self  and  Own  are  irregular  Pronouns,  not  in 
very  frequent  use  in  English.  Self  is  the  more 
important.  It  is  a  Substantive  Pronoun  rather 
than  an  Adjective.  Like  the  Personal  and  the 
Relative  Pronouns,  it  is  the  sign  of  another 
word.  Considered  apart  from  the  term  it 
represents,  its  significance  is  incomplete,  yet  it 
has  a  certain  completeness  of  its  own,  and  can 
stand  as  direct  complement  of  a  verb  and  assume 
aia  indepencfeit  Case  :  as,  "  Self  stands  first  in  his 


ADVERBS,   ADVERBIAL   PRONOUNS   49 

esteem "  ;  "  He  communed  long  with  his  better 
self."  It  is,  however,  generally  used  to  give 
emphasis  to  a  Personal  Pronoun.  "  He  himself 
was  present "  ;  "  I  myself  have  come  "  ;  " Ourselves, 
we  accomplished  the  task."  It  is  joined,  if 
emphatic,  with  the  Genitive  Case  of  the  first  and 
second  Persons  ;  with  the  Accusative  Case  of  the 
Third.  It  marks  Number  by  an  inflexion,  but  no 
other  grammatical  attribute. 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  1st.     I  myself.  Ourselves. 

„      2nd.     Thou  thyself.  Yourselves. 

„      3rd.     Himself,  herself,  itself.         Themselves. 

2.  Own  is  an  irregular  Adjective  Pronoun, 
Possessive.  It  gives  emphasis  to  the  Genitive 
Case  of  the  Personal  Pronoun,  with  which,  for  the 
moment,  it  is  joined,  and  with  it  defines  a  Sub- 
stantive :  as,  "  Good  men  love  their  own  country." 


SECTION   IV    LESSON   VI 
ADVERBS  AND  ADVERBIAL  PRONOUNS 

I 

1.    ADVERBS  include  some  Particles,  but  so  few 
in  comparison  with  true  Nouns,  that  the  whole 

4 


50  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

class  of  those  words  belongs  certainly  to  the  same 
order  as  Substantives  and  Adjectives.  They  have 
the  character  of  Adjectives,  not  of  Substantives. 
They  do  not  form  terms  complete  in  them- 
selves, but  define  the  modes  or  qualities  of 
more  important  words  than  themselves.  They 
define  the  modes  of  action  expressed  by  Verbs, 
and  those  qualities  of  Substantives  which 
Adjectives  describe:  as,  "They  are  really  good 
boys ;  but  they  run  to  play  quickly,  "very 
slowly  to  school ;  nevertheless,  they  learn  tolerably 
well." 

In  the  sentence  there  are  six  Adverbs  ;  three 
define  Verbs ;  one,  an  Adjective ;  two,  other 
Adverbs.  Quickly,  slowly,  define  the  Verb  run  ; 
well  defines  the  Verb  learn ;  really  defines  the 
Adjective  good ;  very,  the  Adverb  slowly ;  toler- 
ably, the  Adverb  well. 

%.  The  Adverb,  like  the  Adjective,  implies 
comparison. 

3.  Adverbs  may  be  divided  into  three  classes. 

I.  Predicative,  or  Descriptive  Adverbs. 

II.  Adverbial  Pronouns. 

III.  Adverbial  Particles. 

4.  Predicative  Adverbs  describe  qualities.    They 
are    directly    formed    from    Adjectives,   and    are 
generally  marked   by   an    inflexion,   the   syllable 


ADVERBS,   ADVERBIAL   PRONOUNS  51 

ly  :  as,  "  slow,  slowly  "  ;  "  heavy,  heavily  "  :  it 
is  a  contraction  from  the  Teutonic  lich  which 
means  like.  Some  Adjectives  are  used  as  Adverbs 
without  the  inflexion  :  as,  "  fast,"  "  low  "  ;  "  We 
run  fast  "  ;  "  He  speaks  low."  "  Lowly,"  in  fact, 
remains  an  Adjective  with  a  slight  change  of 
meaning  from  "  low  " ;  "  goodly  "  from  "  good  " 
is  also  an  Adjective :  as,  "  a  lowly  home " ; 
"  a  goodly  prospect."  Moore  uses  "  stilly "  as 
an  Adjective  instead  of  still :  "  Oft  in  the  stilly 
night." 

5.  The  Descriptive  Adverbs  plainly  mark  a  point 
of  comparison.     "  He  spoke  quickly "  implies   a 
contrast  to  speaking  slowly.     Descriptive  Adverbs 
may  therefore  be  defined  by  Degrees  of  Comparison. 
Some  do  not  take  the  inflexion  /;/.     They  mark 
the  Degrees  of  Comparison  like  Adjectives,  by  er 
for    the    Comparative,   est   for   the    Superlative ; 
again,  the  ly  may  sometimes  be  dropped  and  the 
inflexion   added :  as,    "  He   walked  slowly,"  may 
become  quite  correctly  :    "  He  walked  slower ',  or 
slowest,  or  the  slowest"     If  the  ly  keep  its  place, 
comparison  must  be  marked  by  more  and  most  as 
in  Adjectives :  as,  "  The  river  runs  rapidly,  more 
rapidly ;  most  rapidly" 

6.  As  there  are  Adjectives  that  must  be  com- 
pared irregularly,  so  there  are   Adverbs  :    Good, 
better,    best,     becomes     well,     better,    best ;     bad, 


52  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

worse,  worst,  becomes  ill,  worse,  worst.  "  Badly  " 
as  well  as  "ill"  may  be  used  in  the  Positive 
Degree. 

II 

1.  Adverbial  Pronouns  are  signs,  not  symbols. 
As  signs  merely,  they  do  not  mark  qualities  of 
things   nor   modes   of  the   qualities.      They   are 
restricted,  indeed,  to  a  few   words,  which  define 
verbs  rather  than  adjectives. 

2.  The  Adverbial  Pronouns   are  derived  from 
the  Adjective  Pronouns.    From  the  Demonstrative, 
there,    thence,   thither,   here,    hence,   hither;   from 
the   Relative   Substantive   Pronouns  come  when, 
where,  whence,  whither. 

2.  To  these  may  be  added  a  few  irregular 
Adverbs  :  seldom,  often,  always,  then,  after,  before, 
within,  without,  far,  near,  etc.  Adverbs  some- 
times connect  a  subordinate  to  a  primary  phrase, 
such  as  therefore,  also,  then,  thus,  still,  etc. ; 
with  them  must  be  included  the  Interrogative 
Adverbs,  why  ?  wherefore  ?  All  are,  in  character 
and  use,  Pronouns,  and  all  can  be  exchanged 
for  a  short  explanatory  phrase. 

4.  To  Adverbial  Pronouns  belong  three  in 
constant  use,  formed  from  the  Numeral  Pro- 
nouns, once,  twice,  thrice — as,  "  Once  he  spoke 
frankly." 


ADVERBS,  ADVERBIAL  PRONOUNS  53 

III 

1.  There  are  a  few  Adverbial  Particles.     They 
do  not  define  qualities ;  they  are  not  signs  of  a 
descriptive  word.     They  merely  serve  to  increase 
indefinitely    its   force.      "  The    dawn    was    very 
beautiful,  but  clouds,  too  heavy  and  too  threat- 
ening darkened   the   West."      Very  and   too    are 
those   in    most   frequent    use.     They   can    define 
Adjectives  only,  or  other  Adverbs  not  the  Tenses 
of  Verbs.     "  He  very  discourages  us  "  is  nonsense  ; 
but  if  an  Adverbial  Pronoun  be  added,  with  which 
the  Particle   can  agree,  it   is   good   sense — "  He 
very  much  discourages  us,"  or,  "  He  discourages 
us  very  much."     "  His  speech  was  good "  may  be 
made    stronger,    "  His    speech   was   very   good." 
"  He   spoke   too   long "  means   more  than,  and, 
indeed,    something    different    from,    "He   spoke 
long."     Both    very   and    too    may   change    their 
meaning  and  their  Part  of  Speech,  and  they  may 
cease  to  be  Particles.     In  the  phrase,  "  He  was  a 
very   rogue,"  very   becomes   an  Adjective  which 
means,  genuine,  thorough.     Too  may   have  the 
sense  of  an  Adverbial  Pronoun,  "  He,  too,  came 
frequently  "  for  "  He,  also,  came  frequently." 

2.  The   Negative   Adverbs,    no,  not,    and   the 
Affirmative,  yes,  are  Adverbial  Pronouns  rather 
than    Particles.      No,  not,  denies   the   statement 


54  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

made    by   any    phrase ;    yes,    on    the    contrary, 
confirms  it. 

3.  The  Verb,  the  word  which  expresses  action, 
has  three  grammatical  attributes  peculiar  to  itself : 
Voice,  Mood,  and  Tense.    It  is  affected  besides  by 
the  attributes  of  Nouns — Gender,  Number,  Person. 
It  follows  that  the  word,  which  is  called  Verb, 
must  be  capable  of  many  changes,  in  order  to 
express  its  full  significance.     The  whole  number 
of  these,  repeated  in  regular  succession,  is  called 
the  Conjugation  of  a  Verb. 

4.  Those   changes   are   sometimes   marked    by 
inflexion :    as,    "  love,    loves,*"    "  loved,    loving,"" 
sometimes  by  adding  a  term  taken  from  another 
Verb :  as,  "  I  have  loved,"  "  He  would  love,'1  "  She 
can  love,"  "We  were  loving."     Those  additional 
words,    which   only   mark   a   change   in  time   or 
manner  of  the  action,  lose  their  own  significance 
as  well  as  their  own  meaning.    They  cease,  indeed, 
to  be  independent  Verbs  and  are  Adverbs,  which 
modify  the  Verb  according  to  a  fixed  rule.     They 
are  taken  always  from  the  same  Verbs ;  three  of 
them  define  time,  and  are,  when  they  are  used 
alone,    complete   Verbs — "  to    have,"    "  to    be," 
"  to  do."      Some  terms  are  also  borrowed  from 
a   few  incomplete    or   defective   verbs :    for   the 
Verbs,    "shall,    should,"    "will,    would,"    "can, 
could,"  "  may,  might,"  to  which    may  be  added 


ADVERBS,   ADVERBIAL   PRONOUNS   55 

"  must "  and  "  ought,"  are,  in  origin  and  sense, 
certainly  Verbs,  and  must  be  recognized  as  Verbs. 
Nevertheless,  when  they  serve  merely  to  define  the 
Voice,  Mood,  or  Tense  of  a  Verb,  they  take,  for 
the  moment,  the  office  of  Adverbs. 

5.  Adverbs  and  Adverbial  Pronouns,  as  they 
are  invariably  notes  of  time  or  place,  motive  or 
manner,  remain  persistently  in  the  Ablative  Case. 


SECTION  V    LESSON   I 
THE  ARTICLE 


1.  THE  Article,  as  a  separate  Part  of  Speech, 
is    not   found    in    all    languages,    and    practical 
grammarians  are  apt  to  dismiss  it  easily,  as  an 
Adjective  Pronoun. 

2.  The  meaning  of  the  word  Article  is  a  joint, 
the  name  is  given  to  two  words  only,  the  Definite 
Article,    the ;    the    Indefinite    «,    or   an.      It   is 
especially  the  Definite  Article  which   represents 
a  separate  Part  of  Speech,  and  which  is  regarded 
as   an    Adjective   Pronoun.      An  Adjective  it  is 
not,  for  it  expresses  no  quality  which  may  give 
a  fuller  or  more  definite  meaning  to  a  Substantive, 
nor  does  it  describe  any  mode  of  a  quality. 

3.  The   Definite   Article  is   derived  from    the 
Demonstrative   Pronoun    that.      There   is   there- 
fore  some   reason  why  it   may  be   considered   a 
Pronoun.      It  seems  indeed  sometimes   to   stand 
in  the  place  of  a  clause,  or  phrase,  necessary  to 

56 


THE   ARTICLE  57 

the  whole  meaning  of  the  sentence — as,  "  There 
stands  the  man,"  may  imply,  the  man  of  whom 
we  were  speaking,  or  the  man  in  question,  or 
any  such  explanatory  comment.  "  The  man  has 
come"  may,  in  like  manner,  be  the  man,  whom 
we  expected,  has  come.  But,  in  fact,  the  inserted 
words  are  quite  needless  to  express  the  real  sense 
of  what  is  said ;  it  is  naturally  and  inevitably 
suggested  by  the  subject  at  the  moment  in 
discussion ;  and  the  Article,  for  the  most  part 
introduces  sentences  that  require  no  implied 
illustration  :  as,  "  The  east  wind  is  blowing  and 
the  mountains  are  hidden  in  mist."  "  He  was 
the  only  man  fitted  to  cope  with  those  difficulties." 
4.  The  Definite  Article  is  a  word  without 
meaning,  or  substance  of  its  own ;  nevertheless, 
it  has  a  decisive  significance  and  is  in  constant 
use  to  mark  one  individual  person  or  thing,  or 
collectively,  an  indefinite  number  of  persons  or 
things,  from  the  whole  class  to  which  it  or  they 
belong.  It  does  not  define  a  Substantive  by  an 
actual  quality,  like  the  Noun  Adjective,  nor  by 
a  formal  mode,  like  the  Adjective  Pronoun ;  it  is 
no  sign  of  a  Substantive  in  the  context,  and  it 
does  not  prevent  repetition  :  thus,  it  is  no  Pronoun ; 
nevertheless,  it  is  a  Noun,  not  a  Particle,  and  it 
exercises  a  special  office,  by  adding  the  idea  of 
oneness,  of  distinct  separation,  to  the  Substantive, 


58  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

to  which  it  is  prefixed :  as,  "The  general  who  gained 
the  battle,"  is  not  any  general,  but  one  specially 
so  distinguished.  "The  soldiers,  who  fought  at 
Waterloo,"  are  not  any,  nor  all  soldiers. 

5.  A  Substantive  in  the  Singular  Number,  the 
direct  Nominative  to  the  Verb  of  its  Phrase, 
requires,  if  it  be  defined  by  an  Adjective,  the 
additional  definition  of  the  Definite  Article — as, 
"  The  good  man  is  patient."  "  Good  man  is 
patient,"  has  no  meaning.  "A  good  man  is 
patient,"  is  good  sense  and  good  grammar,  but 
there  is  less  force  in  the  expression.  If  the 
Substantive  be  in  the  Plural,  the  Article  is  not 
needed.  "  Good  men  are  patient "  is  as  correct 
in  grammar  as  "  The  good  men  are  patient." 

II 

1.  When  no  defining  clause  is  expressed  or 
implied,  the  Definite  Article  can  give  at  once  a 
new  significance  to  the  Substantive  which  it  limits. 
Thus  defined,  a  concrete  term  becomes  abstract — 
as,  the  Church,  the  State,  the  World.  "The 
Church"  is  not  a  building,  but  the  Community 
of  Christians  ;  "  the  State  "  is  not  a  mere  country, 
but  the  whole  social  polity  and  the  government 
of  a  country.  "  The  World  "  is  not  the  earth, 
the  planet  inhabited  by  men,  but  a  society  of  its 
inhabitants  considered  in  some  special  relation  to 


THE   ARTICLE  59 

their  dwelling  place,  the  world.  In  like  manner 
an  Adjective,  Singular  or  Plural,  loses  its  individual 
customary  limitation,  and  becomes  in  effect,  a 
Substantive,  a  word  complete  in  itself;  in  its 
sense  general,  not  particular  :  as,  "  The  wise,  the 
strong,  the  unattainable."  They  mean  all  wise 
men,  all  strong  men,  anything  that  is  unattain- 
able. 

in 

1.  The  name  "Article"  explains  the  office  of 
the  Article,  as  a  Part  of  Speech.      It  acts  as  a 
joint   between   a   Substantive   and   any  word  or 
phrase  which  must  stand  in  relation  to  it :    as, 
"  The  boy  who  ran  the  race."     "  Boy  who  ran  the 
race,"  has  no  clear  sense. 

2.  In    all    Teutonic    languages,    the    Definite 
Article  is  expressed  by  a  word,  derived  from  the 
Demonstrative    Adjective    Pronoun,    and   in   all, 
except  English,  its  agreement  in  Gender,  Number, 
and  Person,  with  the  word  to  which  it  belongs,  is 
marked  by  an  inflexion. 

IV 

1.  The  Indefinite  Article,  prefixed  to  a  Sub- 
stantive, gives  an  impression  of  singleness.  It 
does  not  otherwise  define  it,  and  necessarily,  it 
cannot  take  the  Plural  Number.  It  is  not,  as 


60  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

a  Part  of  Speech,  so  important  as  the  Definite 
Article.  The  finest  of  the  Aryan  languages 
does  not  recognise  it.  Latin  has  no  Article,  but 
in  modern  European  languages,  except  the  Slav 
dialects,  both  Articles  hold  their  place  ;  though 
the  Definite  has  very  evidently  the  higher  value. 

2.  The  Indefinite  Article  is  the  same  with  the 
Numeral  Pronoun  one  in  sound  and  in  sense, 
it  always  retains  the  expressions  of  oneness.  In 
English,  the  name  a  or  an  is  hardly  changed 
from  the  Anglo-Saxon  an,  or  ane.  Words  that 
begin  with  a  consonant  take  a  :  as,  "  a  lake," 
"  stream,"  but  those  beginning  with  a  vowel  take 
an  :  as,  "  an  oak,"  "  an  angel." 


SECTION   VI      LESSON   I 
THE  VERB  AND   ITS  ATTRIBUTES 


1.  THE   Verb  so  far  resembles  other  Parts  of 
Speech  that  it  gives  separate  names  to  a  numerous 
class  of  impressions  on  the  mind.     The  Verb  and 
the  Noun  Substantive  are  more  important,  in  the 
work  of  expressing  thoughts,  than  the  many  other 
words  which  men  are  accustomed  to  use. 

2.  Verbs,  with  one  exception,  invariably  repre- 
sent action — that  is,  movement  or  change.    With- 
out, however,  some  existing  thing  to   effect   the 
action,  and  something  to  be  moved  or  changed, 
no  real  or  complete  sense  could  be  given.     Thus, 
the   Verb   is   not,    like    the    Noun    Substantive, 
complete  in  itself.     It  is  quite  possible  to  make  a 
picture  of  the  boy,  or  the  horse,  of  mountains,  or 
streams,  but  impossible  to  draw  "  runs  "  by  itself, 
or  "  rise,"  or  "  flow."     The  boy  or  the  horse  must 
run  ;  the  mountains  rise  ;  the  streams  flow. 

3.  The  Verb,  then,  is  not  complete  in  itself; 

61 


62  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

but  it  is  the  Verb,  and  it  only,  that  gives  a  living 
force  to  a  sentence.  If  the  Verb  be  effaced,  the 
other  words  of  the  phrase  lose  all  coherence ;  that 
is  to  say,  they  lose  all  power  of  joining  together 
so  as  to  tell  a  fact  that  can  be  understood :  for 
instance,  "  It  that  Arnulf  for  years  a  desire  from 
the  world ;  but  when  he  this  project  to  the  young 
king,  who  his  counsels  so  that  he,  that  he  the 
heads  of  his  two  sons,  if  he  the  Court.*" 

The  example  has  been  taken  at  random ; 
certainly  a  little  ingenuity  might  remodel  it 
into  good  sense,  not,  perhaps,  the  sense  intended 
by  the  writer ;  but  in  any  case,  it  shows  plainly 
the  value  of  Verbs. 

"  It  seems  that  Arnulf  had,  for  years,  cherished 
a  desire  to  withdraw  from  the  world  ;  but  when 
he  mentioned  this  project  to  Dagobert,  the  young 
king,  who  valued  his  counsels,  was  so  incensed 
that  he  swore  that  he  would  cut  off  the  heads  of 
his  two  sons  if  he  dared  to  leave  the  Court. " 

II 

1.  The  Verb,  with  the  Noun  Substantive,  can 
express  ideas.      The  other  Parts  of  Speech  may 
add  fulness    or  clearness   to  the  expression,  but 
Substantives  and  Verbs  can,  without  their  help, 
make  quite  intelligible  Sentences. 

2.  In   regard   to   the   work   of  Language,   in 


THE   VERB   AND   ITS   ATTRIBUTES     63 

transcribing  thought,  the  Verb  fulfils  two  offices. 
It  gives  the  necessary  expression  of  action  or 
movement,  and  it  forces  the  words  of  a  Sentence 
into  relation  with  itself  an$  with  each  other. 

3.  The  Verb  recognises  the  grammatical  attri- 
butes of  Nouns,  and  sometimes  adopts  them.    Case 
is   the    most  important,  and    it    is  by   imposing 
Cases,  that  the  Verb  adjusts  the  relations  which 
Substantives  must  hold  to  itself  and  to  each  other. 

4.  Cases  have  been  already  explained,  and  a 
few  words  may  serve  to  define  the  use  made  of 
them  by  the  Verb. 

Ill 

1.  Action  requires  an  agent  to  impel  its  force, 
and  an   object,   or   recipient,  on   which    it   falls. 
These  are  the  direct  complements  of  the  Verb ; 
the  Nominative  Case  and  the  Accusative.     With- 
out them  a  phrase  would,  in  general,  be  incom- 
plete. 

2.  Action  is  besides   accompanied   by  various 
circumstances  which  are  accidents  ;  it  is  not  always 
necessary  to  describe  them.     The  action  falls  at 
a  certain  time  ;  in  a  certain  place  ;  a  motive  has 
given  an    impulse  to   it ;    it  moves   in    different 
manners,     uses     different     instruments.       Those 
accidents  need  not  all  be  explained ;  a  sentence 
is  often  completed  by  describing  one  or   two  of 


64  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

them.  French  grammarians  call  them  the  indirect 
complements  of  the  Verb.  In  Latin,  one  name 
is  without  distinction  given  to  them,  the  Ablative 
Case.  One  relation  remains  to  be  noted,  the 
point  where  the  action  ceases,  the  Dative  Case. 
One  Case  seems  to  be  independent  of  the  Verb, 
the  Vocative. 


SECTION  VI     LESSON   II 
VOICE,   MOOD,   AND  TENSE 


1.  THE  Verb  borrows  help  from  the  grammatical 
attributes  of  Nouns,  and  differently    in  different 
languages,     it     adopts*     Person,     Number,    and 
Gender  to  mark  the  particular  relation  it  holds 
to  a  Noun  in  the  Nominative  Case. 

2.  With  regard  to  Gender  the  Verb  in  English 
never    recognizes    it,   nor    in    general    do    other 
European   languages,  except   the   Slave   dialects, 
which   adopt    three    different    inflexions    in    the 
Perfect  Tense  to  mark  the  three  Genders. 

3.  In  the  Verb  "to  be"  Number  is  marked, 
but   not   throughout   in    conjugating    the    Verb. 
Person  in  the  Singular  Number  has  very  generally 
different  inflexions. 

4.  But  the  Verb  is  not  dependent  on  the  attri- 


THE   VERB   AND   ITS   ATTRIBUTES     65 

butes  of  Nouns.  It  has  three  grammatical  at- 
tributes proper  to  itself,  which  have  their  origin 
in  its  own  peculiar  significance,  that  of  expressing 
action  in  movement  or  change. 

5.  These    attributes    are     Voice,    Mood,    and 
Tense.      They  define   the   relation  of  action    to 
the   impulse   which    moves   it.      This  is  a   little 
difficult,  perhaps,  to  understand;   but  it   is   not 
necessary  to  give  nor  to  learn  an  accurate  scientific 
explanation.     It  is  quite  easy  for  a  little  boy  or 
a   little    girl   to   see   that  nothing    can    act,    or 
move,  or  change,  without  some  person  or  some- 
thing moving   it,    also  that   nobody  can  act,  or 
move,  or  change,  without  first  intending  it,  and, 
to  make  the  relation  of  action  to  impulse  clearer, 
he  may  say  the  relation   of  an  intention   to  an 
action. 

6.  Voice  marks  the  direction  which  intention 
may  give  to  action. 

Mood  signifies  mode  or  manner,  and  the  mode 
of  the  Verb's  action  differs  with  the  character 
of  the  intention  which  moves  it. 

Tense  is  another  word  for  time,  and  it  defines 
the  extent  of  the  Verb's  action  by  the  length  of 
time  since  the  intention  was  formed.  It  may  be 
at  the  present  moment ;  it  may  have  given  the 
impulse  long  ago  ;  it  may  only  intend  to  give  it 
at  a  future  time. 

5 


66  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

II 

There  are   three  Voices :    the  Active,  Passive, 
and  Reflective. 

1.  In  the  Active  Voice  the  movement  expressed 
starts  from  the  Nominative  Case,  and,  whatever 
may  be  the  arrangement  of  words,  falls  imme- 
diately on  an  Accusative  ;  it  may  be  prolonged 
to  a  Dative  Case,  but  there  it  stops :  as,  "  The 
father  gave  excellent  advice  to  his  son,11  or  "  The 
father  gave  his  son  excellent  advice."  Both 
phrases  are  correct,  and  both  mean  the  same 
fact ;  moreover,  in  both,  the  impulse  which  moves 
the  action  in  gave  first  touches  the  thing  given, 
and  next  the  person  to  whom  it  was  given.  The 
accidents  of  action  are  defined  always  by  Nouns 
in  an  indirect  case,  as,  "  The  Black  Prince  struck 
a  decisive  blow  at  the  power  of  France,  by  the 
victory  of  Poictiers  in  1356."  "The  Black 
Prince"  is  the  Nominative,  whence  the  action 
starts  ;  "  struck  "  the  action  itself,  Verb  ;  "  a  de- 
cisive blow,"  issue  or  effect  of  the  action,  Accusa- 
tive ;  "  at  the  power,"  point  where  the  action 
ceases,  Dative ;  "  of  France,"  a  Genitive  Case 
defining  "  at  the  power " ;  "  by  the  victory  of 
Poictiers,"  instrument,  indirect  complement  of 
the  Verb,  defined  by  a  Genitive  Case ;  "  in 
1356,"  indirect  complement  of  time,  as  "by  the 


THE   VERB  AND   ITS   ATTRIBUTES    67 

victory "    is    of    instrument ;   both    are    in    the 
Ablative  Case. 

2.  The   Passive   gives   to   a   phrase    the   same 
meaning  as  it  would  have  in  the  Active  Voice, 
but   it    modifies   the   significance   of    its    several 
parts.      It  takes  the  chief  importance  from  the 
agent  in  an  action  by  excluding  the  true  Nomina- 
tive Case.     The  issue  or  effect  becomes  the  ap- 
parent   Nominative ;    the    agent    is    not    always 
expressed ;  if  it  be,  it  takes  the  character  of  an 
accidental   circumstance   defining    the   action    by 
an  Ablative,  an  indirect  complement  of  the  Verb. 
The  Dative  Case  remains  unchanged,  but,  as  in 
the  Active  Voice,  it  may  be  omitted. 

3.  The  Passive  Voice  is  a  perfectly  legitimate 
construction.      It   may  justly  be  used  with  the 
intention  of  giving  prominence  in  the  expression 
of  an  idea  to  the  Accusative  Case  representing 
the   issue  or  event.     It  may  also  serve  to  vary 
the  expression  of  a  long  or  too  elaborate  sentence, 
or  to  avoid  the  monotony  of  phrases  constructed 
on  a  model  too  constantly  repeated.     Unfortun- 
ately it  lends  itself  easily  to  incorrect  Grammar. 

4.  The  rule  must  be  strictly  observed  in  correct 
rendering   of    the   Passive   Voice   that    the    real 
Accusative,  the  effect  of  action,  becomes  merely 
the  apparent  Nominative ;  it  cannot  actually  re- 
present the  real  agent,  that  must  be  figured  by 


68  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

an  indirect  complement  in  the  Ablative  Case. 
The  sentence  illustrating  the  Active  Voice  should 
be  transferred  to  the  Passive  accurately  in  com- 
pliance with  rule  :  "  A  decisive  blow  was  struck 
at  the  power  of  France,  by  the  Black  Prince  in 
the  victory  of  Poictiers  in  1856." 

Again,  "  His  father  gave  excellent  advice  to 
the  boy."  Excellent  advice  was  given  to  the 
boy  by  his  father;  but  "The  boy  was  given 
excellent  advice,"  "  The  power  of  France  was 
struck  a  decisive  blow,""  are  each  alike  a  hasty 
rendering  too  common  in  the  present  day,,  and 
quite  without  meaning.  It  is  grammatically  a 
blunder ;  "  the  boy "  cannot  become  Nominative 
in  the  Passive  Voice,  as  it  is  not  Accusative  in 
the  Active,  nor  is  such  a  phrase  good  sense.  It 
is  not  the  boy,  but "  excellent  advice  "  that  can  be, 
and  is,  given  :  as  it  stands,  "  excellent  advice  "  and 
"  boy  "  are  identified  and  both  Nominative  to  "  was 
given,"  as  they  are  joined  by  the  Verb  "  to  be." 

Ill 

1.  In  the  Reflective  Voice,  action  starts  from 
and  determines,  that  is,  ends,  in  the  same  point. 
The  agent  must  be  in  the  Nominative,  the  effect 
must  fall  on  a  word  figuring  the  Accusative  or 
the  Dative  Case,  though  in  sense  it  be  one  and 
the  same  with  the  Nominative,  as  ;  "  he  proved 


THE   VERB  AND   ITS  ATTRIBUTES    69 

himself  both  wise  and  strenuous.  He  gave  a 
hard  office  to  himself;  or,  he  gave  himself  to 
a  hard  office,  is  equally  correct. 

2.  The  Reflective  is  sometimes  called  the 
Middle  Voice ;  that  is,  the  Voice  partly  modelled 
on  the  Active,  partly  on  the  Passive.  In  English, 
it  is  little  used,  but  in  some  languages  it  is 
important,  and  marks  the  complete  significance  of 
certain  Verbs. 

IV 

1.  Mood     is    another    attribute,    peculiar    to 
Verbs.     It  is  the  mode  of  the  action  which  the 
Verb  expresses — more  correctly  perhaps,  the  mode 
of  the  impulse  or  intention   which  compels  the 
actual  movement  of  action. 

2.  There  are  but  two  modes,  differing  radically 
from  each  other,  which  affect  both  intention  and 
action ;    one,    when  the  impulse  has  been  given, 
and  the  movement  of  action  is  in  actual  operation; 
another    when    intention    and    action    are   alike 
ready,  but  still  wait  for  the  impulse. 

3.  The  Verb  has  four  Moods,  which  differ  from 
each    other   in    action,    in    accordance   with   the 
difference  in  motive  or  intention  which  has  just 
been  explained.     Those  Moods  are  the  Indicative, 
the  Potential,  the  Subjunctive,  the  Imperative. 

4.  The  Indicative  Mood  is  the  only  one  which 


70  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

represents  action  actually  in  movement,  actually 
effecting  change.  In  622,  "  Mohammed  escaped 
to  Medina."  "  The  Franks  subdued  the  whole  of 
France."  "  History  teaches  useful  lessons." 

5.  The    Potential    Mood   describes   an   action 
possible,  ever  ready  to  happen,  but  delayed  and 
waiting  for  a  decided  intention,  as ;    "  He  may 
spend  a   year   in  travelling."     "  The  men  could 
work  harder." 

6.  The  Subjunctive  is  the  Mood  of  dependent 
phrases,  it  also  describes  an  uncertain  action,  but 
the    uncertainty   depends   on   a   possible   motive 
described  in  the  primary  phrase.     If  the  primary 
phrase  contain  a  negative,  or  if  a  Particle  signifi- 
cant of  uncertainty  connect  the  two  phrases,  the 
Subjunctive  Mood  marks  the  dependent ;  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  primary  phrase  does  not 
always  stand  first,  but  it  explains  the  dependent. 
"  We  do  not  know  whether  we  go  to  Paris."  "  If 
he  come,  the  project  will  succeed."     "  He  will  be 
king,  if  he  gain  the  battle."     English  writers  and 
speakers  are  much  more  careless  of  the  Subjunc- 
tive  than   French.      The   Potential    Mood   may 
sometimes  be  used  in  its   place.     "  We   do   not 
know  whether  we  may  go  to  Paris."     "  He  will  be 
king,  if  he  can  gain  the  battle." 

7.  The   Imperative   Mood    commands.       It   is 
restricted    to    one   motive,   a   command,   and   it 


THE   VERB   AND   ITS   ATTRIBUTES     71 

includes  in  itself  both  the  motive  and  the  action. 
In  strict  accuracy  it  can  be  used  only  in  the 
second  Person  ;  it  is  sometimes,  however,  expressed 
in  the  first  or  third,  but  it  loses  in  some  degree 
the  force  of  a  command.  In  such  a  case,  the 
Pronoun  becomes  the  Accusative  of  a  different- 
Verb,  from  that  which  expresses  the  action  :  as, 
"  Let  us  go  to  Paris,"  "  Let  them  declare  war," 
phrases  less  emphatic  than,  "  Go  then  to  Paris," 
"  Declare  war." 

8.  All  languages  recognise  another  Mood,  the 
Infinitive.  It  differs,  however,  both  in  character 
and  use,  from  the  four  Moods  already  described. 
It  is  a  true  Verb,  in  so  far  as  it  resolves  Nouns 
into  appropriate  Cases,  its  direct  or  indirect 
complements  ;  but  it  is  also  a  true  Substantive,  and 
itself  can  assume  a  direct  or  indirect  Case  to 
another  Verb,  of  which  it  thus  fulfils  the  signifi- 
cance. "To  attack  fierce  beasts  in  their  own 
demenses  is  his  passion ;  he  cares  little  to  shoot 
the  half- tame  creatures  in  your  woods." 

The  Infinitive  Mood  often  serves  to  prolong  a 
complex  sentence  without  obviously  adding 
separate  phrases.  "  He  determined  that,  before 
a  year  had  passed,  he  would  set  free  the  district 
from  the  dread  of  wild  beasts,"  may  be  shortly 
rendered,  "  He  determined  to  set  free  the  district, 
within  a  year,  from  the  dread  of  wild  beasts." 


72  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

9.  There  are  two  forms  of  the  Infinitive  Mood, 
one,  with  no    inflexion,    and   preceded  generally 
by  the   preposition,    to.     One,    ending   with   the 
inflexion  ing.     It  is  derived  from  the  old  English 
inflexion   en   as  •"  to  comen."      The  second  form 
is    especially   used   when  the  Infinitive  takes   an 
indirect  case  :   as,    "  He  fulfilled   his  promise  by 
strictly  fulfilling  his  duty." 

10.  The  Infinitive  is  not  the  only  Mood  in  which 
the   Verb  uses   a  true  Noun  and  Substantive  to 
express  action.     It  adopts  also  an  Adjective,  and 
the  name  of  Participle  is  given  to  words,  which 
thus,     by    their    significance,    are    truly    Verbs, 
and,  no  less  truly,  are  Adjectives,  as  is  evident 
by   their   work   and   service   in    the    forming    of 
sentences. 

Participles  are  Adjectives ;  they  are  resolved 
into  direct  or  indirect  complements  by  the  Verb, 
and  agree  in  Gender,  Number,  and  Case  with  the 
Substantives  which  they  define  ;  the  agreement, 
however,  in  English,  is  not  marked  by  distinct 
inflexions.  Participles  have  two  forms,  but  they 
express  a  difference  of  time.  The  first  has,  the 
inflexion  ing  and  represents  present  time ;  the 
second  takes  ed  as  a  sign  of  past  time — as, 
"  loved."  "  The  old  ploughman  is  still  a  labouring 
man."  Sometimes  en  takes  the  place  of  ed,  "  He 
only  obeyed  the  given  and  written  law." 


THE   VERB   AND   ITS   ATTRIBUTES    73 


1.  Tense  adjusts  the  relations  of  time  to  action. 
There   are   three    primary    divisions    of    time-^ 
Present,  Past,  Future. 

2.  Present  time  cannot  be  modified ;  it  denotes 
action  at  the  moment  of  speaking.     There  is  but 
one  tense  of  present  time,  it  is  named  the  Present : 
as,  "  I  write,"  "  He  speaks." 

3.  Past   time   is   a   definite    interval,    long   or 
short,  traced  back  from  the  moment  of  speaking 
to  a  more  or  less  remote  instant  of  action.     Past 
Time    may  be    almost    indefinitely   divided,    and 
the  number  of  its  tenses  developed  by  Grammar, 
differs  in  different  languages.     English  has  three : 
the  Imperfect,  the  Perfect,  the  Pluperfect. 

4.  The  Imperfect  marks  an  uncompleted  action 
in  any  time  past ;  the  Perfect  a  completed  action  ; 
the  Pluperfect  supposes  two  actions,  one  of  which 
has  been  completed  before  the  occurrence  of  the 
other ;  both  are  in  Past  Time. 

5.  Two   tenses    represent    Future   Time ;    the 
Future  and  the  Future  Perfect.     They  belong  to 
the    Indicative   Mood  only.     The  Future   Tense 
represents  an  action   in  regard  to  time  not  yet 
effected.      The  Future  Perfect,  two  actions,  still 
only  in  intention,  of  which  one  must  precede  the 
other  in  effect. 


74  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

6.  Because  the  uncertainty  implied  in  the  Future 
Tenses  has  a  regard  to  time  only,  all  languages  in 
which  they  are  recognized  decide  that  they  are 
Tenses  of  the  Indicative  Mood,  and  it  would  be 
pedantic  to  insist  on  a  more  accurate  appreciation. 
In  point  of  fact  they  form  a  Mood,  of  the  class 
of  which  the  Potential  and  the  Subjunctive  are 
the  acknowledged  representatives — that  is,  a  mood 
expressing  an  action  of  uncertain  incidence.     The 
Indicative,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  the  Mood 
which  describes  an  action  effected. 

7.  The  Potential  Mood  has  a  Present,  a  Perfect, 
and  a  Pluperfect  Tense.     The  Subjunctive  adds 
to   those  tenses  an  Imperfect.     The   Imperative 
Mood  has  a  single  tense.     The  true  Imperative 
marks  only  the  second  Person. 

8.  The   Infinitive   has  a  Present  Tense  and  a 
Past.     Participles  are  Present  and  Past. 

9.  Tenses  are  defined  in  English,  sometimes  by 
inflexion,   sometimes   by  a   composite   term :    as, 
"  love,   loving,   loved "  ;    "  have   loved,  did   love, 
was  loving,"  etc.     The  adverbial  words,  by  which 
a  change  of  Mood  or  Tense  is  expressed,  are  taken 
from  certain  definite  Verbs,  and  have  been  used 
for  that  purpose  from  the  moment  when  the  first 
attempt  was  made  to  give  a  wider  significance  to 
Verbs  than  the  bare  term,  which  expresses  a  single 
action,  can  give. 


THE   VERB   AND   ITS   ATTRIBUTES    75 

10.  It  may  be  accepted  as  a  general  rule,  which 
applies  to  all  European  tongues,  that  the  Inflected 
is  the  primitive  form,  used  in  the  days  when 
vocabularies  were  limited,  when  language  had  not 
yet  received  the  development  of  which  it  is 
capable. 


SECTION   VII     LESSON   I 

THE  ACTION  OF  THE  VERB  IN  MOULDING 
SENTENCES 

1.  THE    chief   work   of   the   Verb   is   to  join 
words  of  different  significance  so  closely  together 
that  they  form  a  complete  Sentence,  of  which  the 
significance  is  one  and  its  own,  although  it  bears 
a  certain  sense  of  the  Verb's  action  in  its  separate 
parts. 

2.  The  Verb,  in  effect,  exercises  three  move- 
ments in  a  quite  complete  Sentence,  although  two 
suffice  to  create  an  intelligible  Phrase.       In  the 
first  it  resolves  a  Substantive  into  the  Nominative 
Case,  the  agent  in  action.     It  imposes  no  change 
on  the  word,  but  modifies  its  own  expression  by 
assuming  the  grammatical  attributes,  the  Number 
and  Person,  in   some  dialects,  even  the    Gender, 
of  the  Noun   which  it  has  thus  made  its  direct 
Complement ;  and  so  perfect  is  the  union  of  the 
two  words,  (separate  Parts  of  Speech  as  they  are) 
that  they  become  practically  a  single  Term. 


ORDERS  OF  THE   VERB  77 

3.  Regimen    is    the    name    used    by    French 
grammarians  to  signify  a  second  movement  of  the 
Verb,  that  by  which  it  subordinates  a  Substantive 
immediately    to    itself,   and   further    compels   it 
into  close  relation    to  the  Nominative  Case.     It 
is    thus   a    complex    movement    which    imposes 
the  Accusative  Case,  also  a   direct  Complement 
of  the  Verb. 

4.  By  another  complex  movement   the   Verb 
subjoins  the  accidental  circumstances  of  its  action, 
(place,  time,  manner,  motive,  instrument,  etc.)  to 
the    whole    Sentence,    as    it    stands,    correct    in 
grammar  and  sense,  but  failing  in  the  full  com- 
pleteness which  it  gains  by  the  indirect  Comple- 
ments of  the  Verb. 


SECTION   VII     LESSON   II 
THE  DIFFERENT  ORDERS  OF  THE  VERB 

I 

THE  whole  number  of  Verbs  may,  by  a  first 
division,  be  separated  into  two  orders — the 
Substantive  Verb,  and  Predicative  Verbs.  The 
Substantive  Verb  remains  alone,  but  Predicative 
or  Descriptive  Verbs  have  different  modes  of 
action  in  the  movements  by  which  they  form 
Phrases  or  Sentences.  They  may  therefore  be 


78  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

again   divided   into  Transitive,  Intransitive,  and 
Auxiliary  Verbs. 

II 

1.  The    Substantive    Verb    is    very   evidently 
single  in  meaning  and  in  significance  :  it  asserts 
only  that  things  and  creatures  are — that  is,  exist. 
With  whatever  defining  words  it    may  be   used, 
these  do  not  define  its  meaning  nor  its  character, 
but  that  of  its  Nominative,  or  of  the  Substantive, 
with  which  it  unites  its  Nominative  Case.     One 
exception    there    is,   the   negative   Adverbs   not, 
never :    as,    "  Enoch    was    not,    for    God    took 
him." 

2.  As    the   Substantive    Verb    is    limited    in 
significance,  it  is  limited  also   in   its   exercise  of 
grammatical  attributes.     It  is  defective  in  Voice, 
for  it  cannot  assume  the  Active  Voice,  nor  impose 
the  Accusative  Case  on  a  Substantive.     As  it  fails 
in  the  Active,  it  cannot  be  changed  to  the  Passive 
Voice.     If  Voice  be  ascribed  to  it,  then  virtually 
it  is  in  the  Reflective  always,  for  the  movement 
of  the  Substantive  Verb  begins  and  ends  in  the 
same  point.     The  Substantive,  which  follows  it, 
merely  transcribes  that  which  precedes,  is  identical 
with  it  in  significance,  and,  in  Case,  Nominative. 

8.    In  effect,  the  Substantive  Verb   denotes   a 
fact ;  it  cannot  of  itself  connote  qualities.     Never- 


THE   PREDICATIVE   VERB  79 

theless,  it  is  not,  in  English  Grammar,  represented 
as  defective  in  Mood  or  in  Tense, 


III 

THE  PREDICATIVE  VERB 

1.  So  much  has  already  been  said  on  the  subject 
of  Verbs,  that  a  brief  definition  of  the  Predicate, 
in  contrast  to  the  Substantive  Verb,  is  all  that  is 
necessary  before  entering  on  a  full  account  of  the 
modifications  its  work  may  undergo. 

2.  The  Predicative  Verb  does  not  assert  a  fact, 
it  describes  an  action.     In  regard  to  grammatical 
attributes,    it   has  no   defect,  nor  in  any  point 
does  it  fail   to  join  together  and   to   itself  the 
Nouns  of  a  Sentence,  which  expresses  its  movement 
and  the  changes  effected  by  it. 

IV 

1.  As  the  Substantive  Verb  stands  alone,  in  its 
single  expression  of  thought,  it  cannot  be  divided 
by  difference  of  action  into  subordinate  classes. 
Yet  the  contrast  of  its  work  and  character,  as 
compared  with  Predicate  Verbs,  is  too  strongly 
marked  to  permit  of  their  forming  one  uniform 
class  of  words  in  obvious  contrast,  as   Parts  of 
Speech,  to  Nouns  and  Particles. 

2.  The  whole  Number  of  Verbs  must  be  referred. 


80  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

to  two  primary  Orders.  The  first  Order  is  re- 
presented by  one  Verb  ;  the  second  comprehends 
a  numerous  list  of  words,  varying  in  modes  of 
working  and  in  minor  characteristics,  yet  working 
to  the  same  general  effect.  These  form  three 
classes  which  have  been  already  named,  as 
Transitive,  Intransitive,  and  Auxiliary  Verbs. 

3.  Transitive  Verbs  describe  actions,  incomplete 
in  their  full  significance,  unless  they  be  defined 
by  a  direct  complement  in  the  Accusative  Case. 
They  imply  the  passing  of  action  from  an  agent 
to  an  independent  object,  or  recipient,  from  the 
Nominative  to  the  Accusative  Case ;  both   must 
be  explicitly  expressed :  as,  "  The  shepherd  drove 
his  flock  from  the  hills.*"     Transitive  Verbs  are 
readily  resolved  into  the  three  Voices. 

4.  Intransitive  Verbs  describe  actions  complete 
in   themselves,    of    which    the    agent    only,    the 
Nominative  Case,  is  explicitly  expressed,  because 
the  object  or  recipient  of  the  action  is  implicit 
that  is  contained  in  the  movement  of  the  Verb  : 
as,    "  He    sleeps,"    "  He   runs."     The    complete 
sentence  would    be :    "  He   sleeps   the   sleeping," 
"  He   runs   the   running,"   but  in  such  a  phrase, 
it  is  needless  to  express  the  Accusative  Case,  as 
it   is    identified   with   the   action    of    the    Verb. 
Sometimes  an  apparent  Accusative  is  so  parsed 
in    good    faith :    as,    "  He    sleeps    the    sleep    of 


THE   PREDICATIVE   VERB  81 

death,"  but  "  the  sleep,"  correctly  defined,  is  an 
Ablative  Case,  an  indirect  complement — "  He 
sleeps  in  the  sleep  of  Death."  Other  indirect 
complements  there  are,  that  lead  to  error,  as  in 
the  sentences,  "  He  ran  the  race,"  or  "  He  slept 
three  days."  Some  teachers  perhaps,  certainly 
many  pupils,  at  first  sight  give  a  mistaken  parsing 
and  call  both  race  and  days  direct  complements 
in  the  Accusative  Case.  As  grammatical  ex- 
pressions, the  phrases  are,  in  fact,  correct,  and 
may  be  found  in  other  languages  which  have 
dropped  inflexions,  but  the  French  scholar  will 
without  hesitation  call  them  indirect  complements 
of  the  Verb ;  as  indeed  they  are,  and  in  the 
Ablative  Case — "  He  ran  in  the  race,"  "  He  slept 
for  three  days." 

5.  Auxiliary  Verbs,  that  is  helping  Verbs,  as 
the  name  implies,  help  to  express  necessary 
changes  in  the  Conjugation  of  Verbs.  Three  are 
complete  Verbs,  though  they  must  be  reckoned 
among  the  Auxiliary,  but  even  so  they  retain 
their  full  significance  as  the  Substantive,  and 
as  Transitive  Verbs  ;  their  action,  too,  differs  from 
that  of  the  defective  Verbs  which  are  merely 
Auxiliary.  The  Verb  "  to  be "  is  used  to  form 
the  Passive  Voice  and  the  Imperfect  Tense  of 
the  Indicative  Mood.  The  Transitive  Verbs 
"  to  have "  and  "  to  do "  mark  changes  in 

6 


82  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

Tense  only,  but  with  a  difference.  "  To  have," 
merely  indicates  Past  Tenses ;  "  to  do "  retains 
certainly  the  sense  of  time,  but  it  can  be  used  in 
the  Present  Tense,  merely  to  give  emphasis  to  the 
expression  of  the  Verb :  as  "I  do  speak,"  "  He 
does  speak."  In  the  Past  Tenses,  it  gives  the 
impression  both  of  time  and  of  emphatic  in- 
tention. 

6.  There  are  six  Auxiliary   Verbs  which   are, 
with  perhaps  one  exception,  defective.     They  are  : 
"  will,  would  "  ;  "  shall,  should  "  ;  «  may,  might "  ; 
"  can,  could  "  ;  "  must ;  ought."     Their  office  is  to 
change  the  Mood  of  Verbs,  not  the  Tense.     They 
do  not  become  merely  defining  Adverbs,  but  to 
significance  of  action    they  add  the   significance 
of  uncertainty  in  its  incidence  ;  thus  they  affix 
to  the  Future  Tenses  and  to  the  Potential  Mood, 
a  peculiar  sense.     They  retain  the  force  of  true 
Verbs   and   govern    a   direct  complement  in  the 
Accusative  Case ;    it  is   the   Infinitive   Mood   of 
the  Verb  to  which  they  are  prefixed  that  fulfils 
the  intention  it  expresses. 

7.  With  the  exception  of  u  will,"  which  may 
be  regarded  as  a  Transitive  Verb,  when  it  signifies 
strictly  and  evidently  determination,  the  Auxiliary 
Verbs  are  defective  by  the  loss  of  the  Infinitive 
Mood,  of  Participles,  of  the  Potential  and  Impera- 
tive Moods,  of  composite  Tenses.     Yet  they  are 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF   VERBS      83 

true  Verbs,  because  they  signify  actions,  and  the 
effect  of  action  ;  and  because  they  exercise  the 
movements  of  Transitive  Verbs,  and  govern  an 
Accusative  Case. 

8.  "Must"   and    "Ought"   have    no    Present 
Tense,  nevertheless  they  are  used  as  Present,  to 
fulfil  the  significance  of  that  Tense  when  evidently 
the   present   moment   is   the   time    of   speaking. 
"  He  must  consent,"  "  He  ought  to  refuse."     The 
Past  Tenses  are,  "  He  must  have  consented,"  "  He 
ought   to    have    refused,"    and    the    Accusative 
governed  is  the  Infinite  of  "  have  "  defined  by  a 
Past  Participle.     The  Verb  "  to  owe  "  may  repre- 
sent the  origin  of  ought. 

9.  There  are  not  in    English,  as   in    German, 
Composite  Verbs  formed  by  joining  a  separable 
Preposition   to  the    Verb;    but  the  sense  of  the 
Verb  may  be  modified  by  a  Preposition  ;  as,  "  to 
swear ;    to  forswear,"  "  to  take ;    to  undertake," 
"  to  look  ;  to  look  for,"  i.e.  to  seek. 

SECTION   VII     LESSON   III 
THE    CONJUGATION    OF    VERBS 

I 

THE   word  "Conjugation"  is  used  to    denote 
the  variation  of  forms  in  a  Verb,  by  which  its 


84  THE    USE   OF  WORDS 

grammatical  attributes  are  marked.  As  Gender, 
Number,  Person,  Case  are  expressed  in  Nouns  by 
inflexion,  or  by  the  use  of  Particles,  so  must 
Voice,  Mood,  and  Tense  be  marked  in  Verbs. 
The  changes  in  Nouns  are  comparatively  few,  and 
the  Declension  of  a  Noun  is  a  short  and  simple 
process,  but  the  Verb  includes  more  parts  and 
offices  than  the  Noun,  and  these  effect  many 
changes  when  all  are  duly  and  methodically 
arranged,  in  what  is  called  the  Conjugation  of  the 
Verb.  It  requires  a  more  serious  effort  to  learn 
and  write  out  the  whole  Conjugation  than  to 
make  an  orderly  summary  of  the  Declensions  of 
Nouns. 

II 

1.  The  Substantive  Verb  is  derived  from  more 
than    one    root,   and   it   does   not   take   all   the 
inflexions  of  Tense  of  other  Verbs ;  in  Conjuga- 
tion, therefore,  it  stands  alone. 

2.  Predicative  Verbs,  with  some  difference,  follow 
a  regular  system ;  they  are  divided  by  Conjuga- 
tion, into  two  orders  :  Strong  Verbs  and  Weak 
Verbs. 

3.  Strong   Verbs   mark   the   perfect   Tense  by 
modifying    the    radical    vowel :    as,    come,   came, 
run,  ran ;  write,  wrote. 

4.  They   form   the  Past  Participle  by  adding 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      85 

the  suffix  en.  The  inflexion  is  not  invariable 
and  Strong  Verbs  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes. 

I.  Those   in  which  the  Participle  resumes  the 
vowel   sound   of  the   Present   Tense :    as,    write, 
wrote,  written ;  strike,  struck,  stricken ;  give,  gave, 
given. 

II.  It  repeats  the  vowel  of  the  Past  Tense  ;  as, 
break,  broke,  broken ;  speak,  spoke,  spoken. 

III.  The    distinctive    en   of  the   Participle   is 
dropped,  and  in  some  cases,  a  new  radical  vowel 
adopted  ;    as,  run,  ran,  run ;    spin,  span,  spun ; 
ring,  rang,  rung. 

Ill 

1.  The  weak  Conjugation  forms  the  Past  Tense 
and  Past  Participle  by  adding  a  suffix,  possibly 
derived  from  the  Verb,  "  to  do  *  :  as,  hate,  hated, 
hated ;  love,  loved,  loved. 

2.  The  change  of  the  radical  vowel  must  be 
regarded  as  the  primitive  form  of  inflexion  ;  early 
modes     in    Language    have     generally    adopted 
arbitrary  changes ;  they  bear  no  mark  of  obvious 
intention    to  use  such  additions  or  such  altera- 
tions  as   might   explain    a   change  of  accidental 
relation,    in    the   words   of  a   Phrase,    but   later 
inflexions  are  sometimes  significant,  as  the  later 
inflexion  of  the  Perfect  Tense,  "  loved  "  has  been 


86  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

fancied  to  suggest  love  did.  A  better  witness 
than  fanciful  derivation  is  the  more  frequent  use 
of  the  stronger  inflexion,  in  the  earliest  English 
writings,  which,  if  it  be  so,  would  justify  the  idea 
that  Strong  Verbs  belonged  to  the  English  dialect 
in  its  earliest  stage  of  use  and  progress  ;  and  that 
the  Weak  mark  successive  additions  to  the  meagre 
vocabulary  of  its  early  days  and  first  conscious 
efforts. 

IV 

1.  Weak  Verbs  form  six  classes  : — 

I.  Those  in  which  the  suffix  remains  unchanged  : 
as,  turn,  turned,  turned. 

II.  Those  ending  in  d ;  the  suffix  is  contracted 
and   the    double   dd    changed   to    t :     as,    build, 
built,  built. 

III.  Those  ending  in  a  vowel,  when  the  Past 
Tenses    are    contracted :    as,    shoe,   shod,    shod ; 
flee,  fled,  fled. 

IV.  Those   in   which  the  vowel  sound  of  the 
Present  Tense  is  expressed  by  a  diphthong ;  it 
contracts  in  the  Perfect  Tense,  and,  for  the  most 
part,    ed    becomes    t :    as,    creep,    crept,    crept ; 
bereave,  bereft,  bereft,  sometimes  bereaved ;  there 
are  exceptions  :  as,  fear,  feared. 

V.  Those  ending  d  or  t :  as,  light,  lit ;  it  too 
is  sometimes  regular  ;  speed,  sped,  sped  is  not. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      87 

VI.  Those  in  which  a  diphthong,  as  radical 
vowel,  is  modified,  and  ed  changed  to  d,  or  t :  as, 
teach,  taught,  taught. 

2.  Those  forms  may,  in  some  cases,  seem  to  be 
without  rule,  but  there  appears  in  all  an  obvious 
intention    to   abide   by    customary   usage.      The 
deviations   are,    it    may   be,    efforts    to    preserve 
harmony  of  sound,  even  by  the  sacrifice  of  rigid 
obedience  to  primitive  rule. 

3.  There  are  few  irregular  Verbs  in  English. 
They  may  be  counted  as  under  two  heads. 

I.  Those  in  which  the  Present  and  Past  Tenses 
are  derived  from  different  roots  :  as,  to  go,  went, 
gone. 

II.  Those  which   ending   in   d   or   t   have   re- 
jected   every   sign    of    variation    in    Tense :    as, 
hurt,  hurt,  hurt;  put,  put,  put;   spread,  spread, 
spread. 

4.  A   few  Verbs  whicn   are   regularly   marked 
by   ed  in    the    Perfect   Tense,  have  in  the  Past 
Participle    en   as   well   as   ed.      The   elder   form 
is   the   more   correct,  but  ed  is  more  constantly 
used.      The  en  may  have  been  assumed   or   re- 
sumed  to    give    a    technical    sense :    as,    grave, 
or    engrave,    graved,    graved,   or  graven ;    melt, 
melted,  melted  or   molten;  prove,  proved,  proved 
or  proven,    as   the   verdict   in    Scottish   law   not 
proven. 


88  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

THE    CONJUGATION  OF  THE    SUBSTANTIVE 
VERB   "TO   BE" 

INDICATIVE   MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  1st.     I  am  We  are. 

,,      2nd.     Thou  art.  You  are. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  is.  They  are. 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  was.  We  were. 

„      2nd.     Thou  wast.  You  were. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  was.  They  were. 

PERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  have  been.  We  have  been. 

„      2nd.     Thou  hast  been.  You  have  been. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it,  has  been.         They  have  been. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  had  been.  We  had  been. 

„      2nd.     Thou  hadst  been.  You  had  been. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  had  been.         They  had  been. 

FUTURE  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  shall  be.  We  shall  be. 

„      2nd.     Thou  wilt  be.  You  will  be. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  will  be.  They  will  be. 

Person  FUTURE  PERFECT  TENSE 

1st.     I  shall  have  been.  We  shall  have  been. 

2nd.     Thou  wilt  have  been.  You  will  have  been. 

3rd.     He,  she,  it  will  have  been.      They  will  have  been. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      89 

THE   POTENTIAL    MOOD 
PRESENT  TENSE 

Person  SINGULAR  PLURAL 

1st.     I  can  or  may  be.  We  may  or  can  be. 

2nd.     Thou  canst  or  mayest  be.  You  may  or  can  be. 

3rd.     He,  she,  it  can  or  may  be.  They  may  or  can  be. 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 

1st.  I  might  or  could  be.  We  might,  could  be. 

2nd.  Thou  mightest,  couldst  be.       You  might,  could  be. 
3rd.  He,  she,  it  might,  could  be.      They  might,  could  be. 

PERFECT  TENSE 

1st.     I  may  or  can  have  been.      We  may  or  can  have 

been. 
2nd.     Thou  mayest,  canst  have      You  may  or  can  have 

been.  been. 

3rd.     He,  she,  it  may,  can  have      They  may  or  can  have 

been.  been. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

1st.  I  might,  or  could  have  We  might,  or  could 

been.  have  been. 

2nd.  Thou  mightest,  couldst  You  might,  or  could 

have  been.  have  been. 

3rd.  He,  she,  it  might,  could  They  might,  or  could 

have  been.  have  been. 

SUBJUNCTIVE  MOOD 
PRESENT  TENSE 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  1st.     I  be  (If  I  be).  We  be. 

,,      2nd.     Thou  beest.  You  be. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  be.  They  be. 


90  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  were.  We  were. 

„      2nd.     Thou  wert.  You  were. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  were.  They  were. 

PERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  have  heen.  We  have  been. 

„      2nd.     Thou  have  been.  You  have  been. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  have  been.  They  have  been. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  had  been.  We  had  been. 

„      2nd.     Thou  hadst  been.  You  had  been. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  had  been.  They  had  been. 

IMPERATIVE  MOOD 
PRESENT  TENSE 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  2nd.     Be  thou.  Be  ye  or  you. 

INFINITIVE  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE  PERFECT  TENSE 

To  be,  or  being-.          To  have  been,  or  having  been. 

PARTICIPLES 

PRESENT  PAST 

Being1.  Having  been. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      91 

SECTION  VII    LESSON  IV 
THE  CONJUGATION  OF  VERBS  (continued) 

1.  ENGLISH  Grammars  write  out  in  full  the  Con- 
jugation  of  the  Substantive  Verb.      Possibly  it 
may  be  a  mistake,  for  the  relations  of  time  and 
action  can  be  more  definitely  marked  than  the 
relations  of  time  and  being.     If,  however,  it  be 
not  strictly  correct,  the  attempt  in  a  single  lan- 
guage may  be  justified  by  the  common  practice 
of  Jlomance  and  Teutonic  tongues. 

2.  In  Predicative  Verbs  the  distinctions  of  time 
are  definite  in  the  Indicative  Mood,  but  in  the 
Potential  and  Subjunctive  a  certain  indefiniteness 
of  expression  prevails  :  as,  "  Who  has  declared  that 
it   be   unwise   to   decide    so    hastily    a    difficult 
question  ? "      "...  that  it  were  unwise   to  de- 
cide. .  .  ."     "...  that  it  may  be  unwise.  .  .  ." 
"...  that  it  might  be  unwise.  .  .  ." 

In  the  example  given,  the  two  Present  and  the 
two  Imperfect  Tenses  imply  alike  the  movement 
of  speaking  :  that  is,  Present  Time. 

3.  The  distinction  of  the  unfinished  action  in 
a  time  indefinitely  past  from  the  unfinished  action 
in  a  time  definitely  past,  of  the  finished  action  in 
a  time  indefinitely  past  from  the  finished  action 


92  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

in  a  time  definitely  past  is  marked  in  the  Romance 
languages,  but  not  in  the  Teutonic,  and  therefore 
not  in  English. 

4.  English  has  dropped  several  inflexions,  as 
have  also  other  Teutonic  dialects,  and  like  them 
uses  the  clumsier  mode  of  composite  terms  ;  un- 
like German  or  Dutch,  English  adopts  two 
Auxiliary  Verbs  to  be  used  at  will  in  completing 
Tenses  :  as,  "  I  have  or  did  speak."  Sometimes, 
too,  English  transcribes  a  Tense  by  the  Verb  "  to 
be,"  and  the  Present  Participle  of  the  Verb 
conjugated  :  as,  "  I  am  speaking." 

5.  CONJUGATION  OF  THE  TRANSITIVE  VERB 
"TO  SPEAK" 

INDICATIVE  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  1st.     I  speak.  We  speak. 

„      2nd.     Thou  speakest.  You  speak. 

„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  speaks.  They  speak. 

6.  "  Do  speak  "  ;  "  am  speaking  "  may  be  used. 
The  Plural  has  no  inflexion  of  Person. 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 

SINGULAR 
Person  1st.     I  spoke,  or  was  speaking. 

„      2nd.     Thou  spokest,  or  wast  speaking. 
„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  spoke  or  was  speaking. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      93 

PLURAL 

Person  1st,  2nd,  3rd.     We,   you,   they   spoke,   or  were 
speaking-. 

PERFECT  TENSE 
SINGULAR 

Person  1st.     1  spoke,  or  have  spoken. 
„      2nd.     Thou  spokest,  or  hast  spoken. 
„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  spoke,  or  has  spoken. 

PLURAL 

Person  1st,  2nd,  3rd.     We,   you,    they   spoke,   or   have 
spoken. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 
SINGULAR 

Person  1st.     I  had  spoken. 

„      2nd.     Thou  hadst  spoken. 
„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  had  spoken. 

PLURAL 
Person  1st,  2nd,  3rd.     We,  you,  they  had  spoken. 

The  composite  forms  are  anomalous,  yet  they 
mark  the  unfinished  action  in  any  time  past,  in 
contrast  with  the  finished  action  in  time  past, 
more  clearly  than  the  regular  inflected  forms. 

FUTURE  TENSE 

SINGULAR 

Person  1st.     1  shall  speak. 
„      2nd.     Thou  wilt  speak. 
„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  will  speak. 


94  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

PLURAL 

Person  1st.     We  shall  speak. 

„      2nd.     You  will  speak  ;  Shall  you  speak  ? 
„       3rd.     They  will  speak. 

FUTURE  PERFECT  TENSE 

Person  1st.     I  shall  have  spoken. 
„      2nd.     Thou  wilt  have  spoken. 
„      3rd.     He  will  have  spoken. 

PLURAL 

Person  \st.     We  shall  have  spoken. 

„      2nd,  3rd.     You,  they  will  have  spoken. 

THE  POTENTIAL  MOOD 

To  the  Potential  Mood  are  ascribed  four  tenses, 
which  are  regarded  as  Present,  Imperfect,  Perfect, 
Pluperfect.  It  would  be  more  accurate  to  con- 
sider them  as  two  Present  Tenses  and  two  Past. 
The  second  Present  may  be  used  somewhat  in- 
definitely as  an  Imperfect  Tense,  the  second  past 
somewhat  indefinitely  as  a  Pluperfect. 

PRESENT  TENSES 
SINGULAR 

Person  1st.     I  may  or  might  speak. 

„      2nd.     Thou  mayest  or  mightest  speak. 
„      3rd.     He,  she,  it  may  or  might  speak. 

PLURAL 

Person  1st.     We  may  or  might  speak. 

„      2nd,  3rd.     You  or  they  may  or  might  speak. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS     95 

PAST  TENSE  (PERFECT) 

SINGULAR 

Person  1st.     I  may  have  spoken. 

„      2nd.     Thou  mayest  have  spoken. 
,,      3rd.     He  may  have  spoken. 

PLURAL 
Person  1st,  2nd,  3rd.     We,  you,  they  may  have  spoken 

PAST  TENSE  (PLUPERFECT) 

« 

SINGULAR 

Person  1st.  I  might  have  spoken. 

,,   2nd.  Thou  mightest  have  spoken. 
,,   3rd.  He  might  have  spoken. 

PLURAL 
Person  1st,  2nd,  3rd.  We,  you,  they  might  have  spoken. 

THE  SUBJUNCTIVE  MOOD 

1.  The  Subjunctive  is  distinctively  a  mood  of 
uncertain  incidence  in    action.     It   is   invariably 
but  not  distinctively  a  mood  of  dependent  phrases. 
These  are  even  more  frequently  moulded  by  the 
Indicative. 

2.  The  motive  to  uncertainty  is  expressed  in 
the  primary  phrase,  or  in  the  significance  of  the 
word  that  introduces  the  dependent,   whether  it 
be  pronoun,  adverb,  or  conjunction. 


96  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

3.  The  most  general  rule  is  :    The  dependent 
phrase  assumes  the  Subjunctive   if  the   primary 
be  a  question  or  convey  a  negative  —  e.g.  "  Must 
you  wait  till  he  comes  ?  "     The  question  remains 
undecided,  Yes,  till  he  speak. 

4.  The  Subjunctive  has  four  Tenses  —  a  Present, 
an  Imperfect,  a  Perfect,  a  Pluperfect.     It  admits 
no  inflections   of  Person,  or  Number  —  and  need 
not  be  written  out  in  full. 

• 

THE  SUBJUNCTIVE  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 

Person  SINGULAR  PLURAL 

1st,  2nd,  3rd.    !_,  thou,  he  speak.        We^  you^  they  speak. 


IMPERFECT  TENSE 

y,  yy  yy  ly     tllOU,     llC     SpOfcC.  W&y      VOU_, 

PERFECT  TENSE 


yy  yy  yy  ly        tllOU,        llC         l^VC  WC,         VOU, 

spoken.         spoken. 
PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

yy  yy  yy  ly         tllOU,          llC         had  We_,  VOU, 

spoken.  spoken. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      97 
THE  IMPERATIVE  MOOD 

The  Imperative  has  a  single  Tense,  the  Present. 
Correctly  used,  it  marks  only  the  second  Person. 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  2nd.     Speak.  Speak. 

It  may  be  rendered  but  awkwardly  by  "  Do  thou 
speak  ;  do  you  speak.'1 

The  Infinitive  Mood  has  two  separate  forms, 
and  two  Tenses  of  which  the  Perfect  is  composite. 

PRESENT  TENSE 
To  speak.  Speaking. 

PERFECT  TENSE 
To  have  spoken.  Having  spoken. 

SECTION   VII     LESSON   V 

TRANSITIVE  VERBS   IN  THE   PASSIVE   VOICE 

I 

1.  THE  Passive  Voice  is  rendered  in  some 
languages  by  inflections ;  in  others  by  combining 
the  Past  Participle  of  the  verb  conjugated  with 
the  regular  Tense  forms  of  another  verb,  of 
which  the  meaning  gives  a  passive  significance  to 
the  composite  term.  The  verb  "  to  be "  very 

7 


98  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

commonly  serves  that  purpose,  but    other  verbs 
are  also  used  to  form  appropriate  Tenses. 

2.  English  adopts   the    Substantive    Verb.     It 
is  needless  to  write  out,   in  full,  a  table  of  the 
Passive  Voice,  as  the  changes  in  Mood  and  Tense 
are  those  of  the  verb  "  to  be." 

3.  Conjugation    of    the     Transitive     Verb    to 
reward  in  the  Passive  Voice. 

INDICATIVE  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 

SINGULAR  PLURAL 

Person  1st.     I  am  rewarded.  We  are  rewarded. 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 
y,        j,       1  was  rewarded.  We  were  rewarded. 

PERFECT  TENSE 

yy        yy       I     have    been     re-        We    have    been     re- 
warded, warded. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

yy        yy       I  had  loeQn  rewarded.      We     had     been     re- 
warded. 

FUTURE  TENSE 
„        }y       I  shall  be  rewarded.       We  shall  be  rewarded. 

FUTURE  TENSE  (PERFECT) 

y          .y       1    shall    have    been      We   shall   have   been 
rewarded.  rewarded. 


THE   CONJUGATION   OF  VERBS      99 

POTENTIAL  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 
Person  1st.     I  may  be  rewarded.        We  may  be  rewarded. 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 

„        „       I  might  be  rewarded.      We  might  be  re  warded. 

PERFECT  TENSE 

„        ,,       I    may    have    been       We   may  have    been 
rewarded.  rewarded. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

„        „       I  might  have  been       We  might  have  been 
rewarded.  rewarded. 

SUBJUNCTIVE  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 
Person  1st.     I  be  rewarded.  We  be  rewarded. 

IMPERFECT  TENSE 
„        „       I  were  rewarded.  We  were  rewarded. 

PERFECT  TENSE 

„        ,,       I    have    been     re-        We    have    been     re- 
warded, warded. 

PLUPERFECT  TENSE 

„        „       I  had  been  rewarded.      We    had     been     re- 
warded. 

IMPERATIVE  MOOD 
Person  2nd.     Be  rewarded.  Be  rewarded. 


100  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

INFINITIVE  MOOD 

PRESENT  TENSE 
To  be  rewarded.  Being  rewarded. 

PERFECT  TENSE 
To  have  been  rewarded.         Having  been  rewarded. 

PARTICIPLES 

PRESENT  PAST 

Being  rewarded.  Having  been  rewarded. 

II 

The  Reflective  Voice  is  hardly  recognized  in 
English.  No  transitive  verb  becomes  intransitive 
by  its  use  as  in  the  Romance  dialects. 


SECTION   VIII    LESSON   I 
PARTICLES 


1.  PARTICLES  are  not  true  words,  but  contractions 
or  abbreviations  of  words.     It  is  difficult  to  trace 
their  derivation,  but  of  some  the  Substantive  Verb 
is  evidently  the  root.     Probably  it  has  suggested 
many.    The  word  which  identifies,  for  the  moment, 
terms   different    in    sound    and    sense — that    is, 
makes  them  one  image  of  a  single  impression,  is, 
indeed,  the   word   peculiarly  appropriate   to   the 
office  of  Particles,  that  of  giving  coherence  to  a 
phrase. 

2.  As  words  they  are  imperfect,  they  merely 
act  as  joints  in  the  structure  of  discourse,  and  it 
is  not  without  reason  that  they  have  been  called 
articulations. 

3.  Particles   are   not   names    of  actual   things 
that  exist ;  they  have  no  grammatical  attributes  ; 

they  do  not  describe  qualities  nor  modes  of  being. 

101 


102  THE   USE   OF  WORDS 

They  are  mechanical  contrivances,  and  they  only 
show  the  relative  position  of  those  things  which 
language  represents  with  so  great  fidelity  as  to 
make  a  picture,  or  to  express  a  quite  intelligible 
idea  :  as,  "  Day  set  on  Norham's  castled  steep." 
"  The  day,"  "  the  setting,"  « the  steep  "  are  dis- 
tinct images  ;  "  Norham's  castled "  gives  indi- 
viduality to  "  steep,"  the  words  add  to  it  visible 
characteristics  ;  "  on "  expresses  nothing  that  is 
a  real  image  in  the  mind,  but  it  marks  the 
position  held  by  the  "  day?  the  relation  of  the 
setting  to  "  Norham's  steep."  Without  it  the 
picture  would  have  no  coherence. 

4.  Particles  are,  in  effect,  mechanical  contri- 
vances, designed  to  remedy  a  defect  in  Language, 
which  is  neither  so  graphic  nor  so  swift  in  move- 
ment as  thought.  A  scheme  of  inflexions  might 
equally  well  indicate  relation.  "  Norham's  steep  " 
and  the  steep  of  Norham  present  precisely  the 
same  image ;  nevertheless,  no  Language  has 
developed  a  system  of  inflexions,  so  elaborate,  as 
to  dispense  with  the  use  of  Particles. 


II 

Particles  form  three  distinct  Parts  of  Speech — 
Prepositions,  Conjunctions,  Interjections.  They 
include  also  a  few  Adverbs. 


PARTICLES  103 

III 

1.  The  peculiar  office  of  the  Preposition  is  to 
indicate  Case,  or  to  define  the  relations  imposed 
on  Nouns  by  the  Verb. 

2.  Prepositions  are  Simple  or  'Composite.     The 
Simple  are  mere  indefinable  Particles  :  as,  in,  of 
to.      The  Composite   are   formed   either    of  two 
Prepositions,  or  of  a  Preposition  and  an  Adverb  : 
as,    into,    without,    within.      The    Composite    ex- 
pression may,  by  ellipsis,  be  used  as  an  Adverb  : 
as,  he  stands  "  without,"  but  if  a  Substantive  be 
supplied,    it   becomes    a    mere    Preposition :    as, 
"  without  the  house,"  "  without  the  walls,"  etc. 

3.  Substantially    significant    words    may    take 
the   place  of  a  Preposition :  as,  "  except,"  "  ex- 
cepting."    Even  a  clause  may  do  a  like  service ; 
as  "  by  reason  of." 

4.  Prepositions,    though    indefinable,    have    a 
certain  restricted  significance  of  their  own.     They 
cannot  be  used  indifferently,  though  in  some  cases 
they   may   be   interchanged,   yet    always    with  a 
slight  modification  of  significance. 

5.  "  Of,"  points  out  simple  relations  of  origin, 
or   possession ;   in    relations    of  place,    with,    by ; 
relations  of  cause,  or  manner,  etc.     Thus,  if  they 
be    interchanged,    the    motive    or    intention    is 
varied,  though  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  remains 


104  THE   USE   OF   WORDS 

practically  the  same :  as,  "  It  was  of  ignorance, 
he  sinned,"  "  He  sinned  from  ignorance  "  ;  "  He 
sinned  by  ignorance  "  ;  "  In  ignorance,  he  sinned." 

IV 

1.  The  proper  office  of  Conjunctions  is  to  join 
words  together ;  or  to  annex  clauses  by  which  a 
sentence,   or  a  mere  phrase    may  be   prolonged  : 
as,  "  He  came  and  went,  without  question."    "  The 
soldier  must  have  quick  observation,  determined 
courage,  and  energy  and  skill,  but  withal  he  must 
obey."     "  Withal "  is   here  an  Adverb,  defining 
"obey,"  "and,"  "but,"  are  Conjunctions. 

2.  Conjunctions  can  only  connect  like  Parts  of 
Speech,  and  like  intervals  of  Discourse.      They 
join    Substantive    with    Substantive ;    Verb    with 

Verb  ;  Clause  with  Clause  ;  Phrase  with  Phrase. 

Pure  Conjunctions  are  few  in  number;  but 
Adverbs,  correctly  or  incorrectly,  are  often  parsed 
as  Conjunctions,  as  they  seem  for  the  moment 
to  fulfil  the  duty  of  that  part  of  speech  :  as,  "  The 
crisis  was  imminent,  therefore  he  came."  Is  not 
"  therefore  "  an  Adverb,  defining  came  ? 


1.  The  office  of  the  Interjection  is  to  mark  a 
break  in  the  continuity  of  discourse. 


PARTICLES  105 

2.  Pure  Interjections  are  very  few  in  number, 
but  any  exclamation  which  is  detached  from  the 
government  of  the  ruling  Verb  is  practically  an 
Interjection. 

3.  The  Vocative  Case,  in  so  far  as  it  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  ruling  Verb,  is  an  Interjection. 


Printed  by  Hazcll,  Watson  <b  Viney,  Id.,  London  and  Aylesbury. 

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